Ethiopia: French journalist Antoine Galindo released

His detention is over. French journalist Antoine Galindo, jailed for a week in Ethiopia, was released on Friday and is on his way to France, his employer, trade publication Africa Intelligence, said. “I’m fine, I’m in good health” and “I’ve been treated well” despite the harsh conditions, Antoine Galindo told AFP before leaving.

“Antoine Galindo was released on February 29 after a week in custody and was able to leave Addis Ababa and return to Paris,” said Paul Deutschmann, editor-in-chief of Africa Intelligence. His release “is a real relief to the entire Africa Intelligence editorial team, who are eager to find Antoine,” he added. The release was also welcomed by the Committee to Protect Journalists on X (formerly Twitter).

Galindo was arrested on February 22 at a hotel in central Addis Ababa along with a representative of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a registered opposition party, with whom he had a meeting. The latter is still in custody.

Two days later, the French journalist appeared before a judge, who ordered his detention to be extended. At the hearing, police said they suspected the journalist of “conspiring to create chaos” in Ethiopia. Africa Intelligence condemned the “false accusations” that are “not based on any real elements” and the “unjustified arrest”.

Antoine Galindo, 36, head of the East Africa desk, arrived in Ethiopia on February 13 to cover the African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, the headquarters of the pan-African organization that accredited him. On Wednesday, Selamawit Kassa, Ethiopia’s secretary of state for communications, said a French journalist had been arrested for exceeding his accreditation, which she said only allowed him to cover the AU summit, and illegally collected “information on internal political issues” in Ethiopia.

Local conflicts

The second most populous country in Africa (120 million inhabitants) and a mosaic of some 80 ethnolinguistic communities, Ethiopia is undermined by several local conflicts, especially in the two most populous regional states, Oromia and Amhara.

In Oromia, home to some 40 million mostly Oromo residents, federal forces have been confronting the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) since 2018. Classified as a “terrorist organization” in Ethiopia, it arose from a split within the OLF when it renounced armed struggle and was legalized. Amhara has been under a state of emergency since August to try – so far unsuccessfully – to suppress the uprising of the Fano, Amhara’s militia that took up arms against federal authorities in April 2023.

A state of emergency suspends a number of rights and freedoms, in particular with regard to arrests and detentions. It applies throughout Ethiopia against anyone suspected of involvement in violence in the largely Amhara region of about 23 million people. After decades of repression, press freedom made impressive progress when current Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power in 2018 and released several journalists and opponents.

But the situation has deteriorated sharply again since 2020 and the start of a two-year war against dissident authorities in the regional state of Tigray. Since 2020, Ethiopia has jailed several Ethiopian journalists and expelled several foreign journalists, but the jailing of a foreign journalist is the first in more than three years. In mid-2020, Kenyan journalist Yassin Juma was detained for more than a month, although the Ethiopian justice system ordered his release.

Since coming to power, Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner who was seen as a reformer who could modernize Ethiopia after decades of authoritarian rule, has disappointed hopes placed in him. In 2023, Ethiopia was ranked 130th in the world for press freedom, down 16 places from 2022, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). According to NGOs, as of January 1, 2024, there were 15 journalists in prison.