Ethiopia
Prime Minister and U.S. at odds over Voice of AmericaPosted Apr 6 2010
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been criticized for his open admission of plans to block broadcasts of Voice of America. The broadcasts are funded by the U.S. and are often played in Amharic, a language used by a large group of people in Ethiopia.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the minister has claimed that Voice of America is about “engaging in destabilizing propaganda.”
He even compared the broadcasts to a Rwandan radio station, Radio Mille Collines, that was said to have pushed for the 1994 genocides.
U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid tells CNN that though Ethiopian government may not be in agreement with VOA and its news, by trying to ban it, they are interfering with constitutional rights.
“This right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers,” he says.
According to the BBC news, the Amharic Service has experienced interference with its broadcasts since February. The VOA condemns the proposed actions of Ethiopian government and its prime minister.
“The VOA deplores jamming as a form of media censorship wherever it may occur,” he says in a statement to the BBC.
Zenawi also made a bold statement to reporters, including News24.com, that he hopes to have Ethiopian authorities censor the broadcasts.
“I can assure you that at some future date that if they have that capacity then I will give them the clear guideline to jam it.”