In April 2015 The Dissident Blog had texts about Eritrea and Ethiopia, and among the contributors was Reeyot Alemu, the much-appraised Ethiopian journalist, sentenced to fourteen years of imprisonment for “terrorism” due to texts that she had written. Her sentence was later shortened to five years. In an open letter she then described her days in the notorious Kality prison. She finished the letter with the words: “Dear readers, lastly, I wish to see a democratic Ethiopia where justice is served. I promise to do everything I can to achieve this.”
Four years later she is participating in this issue, and, although highly critical of the developments in the country she writes that: “Our struggle has been a fruitful one.”
The events in Ethiopia this past year are such that many people living in totalitarian states would find them hard to even imagine. In less than a year Ethiopia has gone from being one of the world’s most repressive countries to being an open and more democratic one. Since April 2018 when Abiy Ahmed became the new prime minister the country has rapidly moved in a democratic direction. Massive reforms have been implemented, political prisoners have been freed, organisations previously defined as “terrorist” are now seen as legitimate opposition movements, a peace treaty with Eritrea has been signed, blocked home pages and blogs have been unblocked, and hundreds of previously forbidden media are now permitted. In 2018 the Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index ranked Ethiopia as low as 150 among the 180 countries; in 2019 the country has climbed to position 110.
The notorious Kality prison, with a name that locally has been synonymous with “being imprisoned for political reasons,” is nowadays emptied of political prisoners.
It is no exaggeration to say that the changes within the country during this past year constitute a historical leap in favour of democracy and the freedom of expression in Ethiopia.
