At 11 am on May 20, when his cell phone started ringing, Simon Marks – 35 years old, correspondent of New York Times from Ethiopia – it was in the backyard, in Addis Ababa. With him was his partner, Giulia Paravicini, 33, correspondent of Reuters; his son Zeno, 2 years old, was recently in school.
I didn’t know that number, nor the person who was talking to me. He summoned me to the immigration office. I asked him why. He just told me to bring everything I had, he explains Courier service.
Before the day was over, Marks had become the first foreign journalist to be expelled – without official reason – fromEthiopia: a country led by a prime minister, Abiy Ahmed Ali, which 2 years ago received the Nobel Peace Prize, and who now engaged in a conflict against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that dominated the country up to three years ago.
The fighting began on November 4 when, according to the government, forces loyal to the TPLF attacked army bases in the region. In the course of the conflict, the government armed forces, flanked by militias from the Amara region and the army from neighboring Eritrea, allegedly committed crimes against civilians – massacres, rape, blocking of access to humanitarian agencies, thousands of people starving: and the situation destined to worsen by August: this is the sowing season, but no one is able to cultivate. There is a risk of famine.
Ethiopian refugees from the Tigray region wait to leave to reach a refugee camp in Sudan (photo Tyler Hicks)
The manner in which Marks – a British and Irish citizen – was expelled were brutal: I was notified by the immigration office of the obligation to leave the country immediately. Giulia, who was with me, tried to persuade them to let me go home to get my luggage and passport, and say hello to our son. They told her no, they dragged me away. I come home, pack my bags, run to the airport, Paravicini remembers, speaking from Addis Ababa. They prevent me from seeing him, I know that in a room, he no longer has a telephone with him: I have no way of knowing how he is. At 7:30 pm they let him out: I move to bring him the documents, the security services block me. Stop me as well, I say, and I pass them. I hug him quickly, I give him everything. They take it back, close it in the room. I haven’t seen him since.
The expulsion of an international journalist marks a turning point in a crisis that has reached – according to Marks, who is now in Brussels – at the worst point ever.
The blocking of data traffic from the conflict region makes this war largely invisible, with decisive consequences in terms of media coverage and political urgency: It does not exist. citizen journalism, there are no photos on social media. The only images that came out of there, for months, were from a single photographer, says Marks.
Since November, at least a dozen local journalists were arrested, beaten, intimidated.
No one officially explained to Marks the reason for the expulsion: They just told me it was a government order. But there is a long story behind this decision.
At the end of February Marks had obtained permission from the government to go to Tigray. He had returned on March 3: the next day, even before writing what he had seen, he had been journalist’s permit revoked. The accusation was that he had spread fake news with his previous articles, in which he reported the allegations of ethnic cleansing and violence against civilians by the government. The expulsion came two months later.
Why me? Ethiopian official representatives accused the NOW of having raised diplomatic pressure on Ethiopia. And over the past month the situation has become increasingly toxic: members of the government have called for burning USA flags, accused Westerners of interfering in internal affairs.
The Biden administration and the EU are close to launching sanctions: And the narration of an enlightened Nobel Prize-winning, reformer, premier has begun to transform into something quite different.
Marks will return to Africa to cover the elections in Ethiopia on 21 June. When I think about how many people I would have liked to say hello, before leaving a country where I have been for two years – and so happily – it breaks my heart, he explains.
When Zeno saw me put Simon’s shoes in the suitcase, he would repeat: “Dad, dad”, remembers Paravicini. used to seeing us leave for work: but for a few days. Now we don’t know when we will meet again. N where.
May 25, 2021 (change May 25, 2021 | 09:58)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED