Nairobi
\nEthiopia has announced new restrictions on the sharing of information about the war in the north of the country which stipulate that battlefront updates can only come from the government. \u201cDisseminating information on military maneuvers, war front updates and results via any medium is forbidden,\u201d except for information provided by a joint civilian-military command set up to oversee a state of emergency, the government\u2019s communication service said late on Thursday. The statement did not specify the implications of the new rules for journalists or media outlets covering the war, which broke out last November between the government and rebellious forces from the northern region of Tigray.
\nIt did not, for instance, address the consequence of publishing information provided by unauthorized sources. Ethiopia\u2019s media regulator did not return calls from Reuters seeking clarification on the matter. The prime minister\u2019s spokeswoman, Billene Seyoum, told Reuters on Friday, \u201cThe state of emergency prohibits unauthorized entities from disseminating activities from the front via various channels including media.\u201d She did not elaborate.
\nEthiopia\u2019s parliament designated the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front, the party that controls most of Tigray, a terrorist group earlier this year. In its statement, the government\u2019s communication service instructed \u201cthose using freedom of speech as a pretext … to support the terrorist group\u201d to refrain from doing so. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed oversaw sweeping reforms when he took office in 2018, including the unbanning of more than 250 media outlets, the release of dozens of journalists and the repeal of some widely criticized media laws. However, some rights groups say press freedom has eroded since then as the government has faced outbreaks of deadly violence, including the conflict in Tigray and neighbouring regions. At least 38 journalists and media workers have been detained since early 2020, most of them since the conflict began, according to a Reuters tally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nairobi Ethiopia has announced new restrictions on the sharing of information about the war in the north of the country which stipulate that battlefront updates can only come from the government. \u201cDisseminating information on military maneuvers, war front updates and results via any medium is forbidden,\u201d except for information provided by a joint civilian-military command […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-229750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n