Ethiopia restricts information sharing about war

FILE PHOTO: A general view of Hitsats refugee camp in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, photographed in 2019. Natalia Paszkiewicz/Handout via REUTERS

NAIROBI (Reuters) - 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. "Disseminating information on military maneuvers, war front updates and results via any medium is forbidden," except for information provided by a joint civilian-military command set up to oversee a state of emergency, the government's 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.

It did not, for instance, address the consequence of publishing information provided by unauthorized sources. Ethiopia's media regulator did not return calls from Reuters seeking clarification on the matter. The prime minister's spokeswoman, Billene Seyoum, told Reuters on Friday, "The state of emergency prohibits unauthorized entities from disseminating activities from the front via various channels including media." She did not elaborate.