Journalists' association worried about its future

Ethiopia’s free press association on Monday accused the government of trying to close it down in a row over the renewal of its operating licence. Kifle Mulat, the president of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFJA), said the future of the organisation was at risk after its latest confrontation with the government. He asserted that the issue over EFJA's expired licence had been sparked by its criticism of a controversial new draft press law currently being revised by the government. Under Ethiopian law, all NGOs must be licensed by the justice ministry and provide audit reports of their records. In this context, the ministry announced it was going to "take measures" against the EFJA, which it accused not only of failing to submit audit reports for three years but also of failing to renew its licence. In a statement on 4 November, the ministry observed that the EFJA was, like all other organisations, "duty bound" to register with the government. The EFJA is also coming under fire from journalists working in the private press, who say the organisation has become "over-politicised" and is suffering from "weak leadership". "The private press in Ethiopia is not only facing external challenges, it is also suffering from its own internal shortcomings," said the editorial of Fortune, a leading English-language weekly with one of the largest circulations in the country. Kifle, however, rejected the ministry's criticisms, arguing that the EFJA did not need to provide audit reports, because its finances amounted to less than the minimum level of US $6,000 a year. "At present, the existence of free press journalists and EFJA is at risk," he added, pointing out that the ministry had failed to raise its concerns for the last three years. The ministry, on the other hand, retorted that the EFJA had already been given extra leeway when compared to other organisations that had been closed down. "The ministry have been extremely lenient of the EFJA because of the rights of the free press in this country," a government spokesman, Zemedkun Tekle, told IRIN. "Other organisations have had their licence revoked because they failed to meet the requirements, but the EFJA were given more room than most." The row also comes after Information Minister Bereket Simon accused the EFJA of undermining "responsible" journalism in the country. His comments came at the launch of a three-day international roundtable on media law reform in the Horn of Africa on 21 October. Ethiopia currently has about 82 weekly and 32 monthly newspapers. But critics argue that journalists working in the country face oppressive laws and imprisonment.