In his letter of November 10, 2003, the President of EFJA cited the particular difficulties the association has been facing since its very inception eleven years ago. The violation of the rights of Ethiopian journalists, and what they went through under the current regime is only a matter of record. He therefore appealed to all concerned parties to protest the egregious measures taken by the Ethiopian authorities against the organization.

The action to ban EFJA is a reprisal and retribution for the justifiable criticism made by the organization of the government's new Draconian press law, which, among other things, requires newspapers to pay tax on press releases and gives government officials thirty days to reply to questions raised by the press. In addition, the new press law has proposed to create the so-called Press Council in order to oversee the activities of journalists in the country. With such means, the government intends to completely destroy whatever little press freedom existed at least in Addis Ababa.

This latest action by the regime demonstrates the intensification of political repression in Ethiopia. It is a testimony to the fact that the growing challenge and political pressure from opposing political and civic groups is forcing the regime to drop its mask and to show itself to the rest of the world in its true colors - authoritarian, anti-democratic and deceptive. The truth is, by banning the organization in this manner, the regime hopes to remove the press from exposing it and from providing a testimony to the rigging of the elections slated for 2005. This time, the regime is shorn of all pretensions and no longer even pays lip-service to the cause of "democracy" for the benefit of donors.

We, the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, a coalition of fifteen opposition political parties, therefore, strongly condemn the EPRDF's continual repressive measures to suppress freedom of the press. We ask the international community to mount pressure upon the regime to immediately lift its ban on EFJA. In the absence of EFJA, the regime will continue its terrorist activities upon millions of Ethiopians, only this time, there will be no one to expose the atrocities against the people. The international community has a moral obligation to sanction the regime for its increasing defiance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It is critical that the international community acted in a timely fashion.

The United Ethiopian Democratic Forces

The United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF)
5309 Georgia Ave. 2nd Floor,
Washington, DC 20011-3925
Tel: 202-291-4217
Fax: 202-291-7645
E-mail: UEDF@hotmail.com