Swedes meet Ethiopian PM over jailed journalists
Published: 5 Feb 12 12:41 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/38932/20120205/
A senior Swedish delegation has met in secret with Ethiopia's prime minister Meles Zenawi to discuss the case of two Swedish journalists jailed in the country for terror crimes, according to media reports.
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The Swedish foreign ministry has however declined to comment on the reports.
Reporter Martin Schibbye and photographer Johan Persson - both freelancers - were arrested in Ethiopia's Ogaden region on July 1st after entering the country from Somalia.
The pair were jailed for 11 years by an Ethiopian court in December after being found guilty of supporting terrorism and entering the country illegally.
The journalists both testified they were in Ethiopia to report on the activities of the Swedish oil company Lundin Petroleum in the Ogaden.
Prior to becoming foreign minister after the 2006 election, Carl Bildt sat on the board of Lundin Petroleum and he has been subjected to criticism for perceived inaction since the journalists' arrest.
Social Democrat Marita Ulvskog has criticised Carl Bildt for not taking the opportunity to meet Zenawi at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, which they both attended.
Carl Bildt's press secretary has defended the foreign ministry's "quiet diplomacy" approach to the case.
"The discussions which we conduct, when we conduct them and what we say is nothing we publicise as we are convinced that it wouldn't benefit Schibbye and Persson," Anna-Charlotta Johansson told DN.
Schibbye and Persson announced in January that they do not intend to appeal their sentences and instead invest their hopes on the country's "tradition of pardon".
For a pardoning process to commence, the two Swedes will have to pen a letter to the Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi.
They will also need to confess in writing and apologize for entering the country illegally and being in contact with the rebel group ONLF.
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Such is life in Ethiopia.
The problem with the Swedish journalists is that Meles will not be able to enforce his other agenda, that is, muzzle them for life! He must be regretting he offered the pardon in the first place. The two Swedes did take a chance to report on the plight of the Ogadenis and Oromo insurgents. Meles has called the insurgents terrorists. Ethiopians who challenge him are also terrorists. The fact that Meles says so does not make it true, however. Read More in Ethiopian Recycler
http://etrecycler.blogspot.com
VIDEO LINK OF SWEDISH REPORTERS PLANNING ILLEGAL TRIP (boasting about organizing "private army"):
http://www.friatider.se/har-ar-filmen-som-media-inte-vill-att-du-ska-se
AND WHO IS MARTIN SCHIBBEY?
Mr. Schibbey used to be the editor for the magazine "Rebell", the official paper of "RKU", Sweden's Revolutionary Communist Party's youth organisation. Communism á la Marxism Leninism.
Mr. Schibbey and his comrades declared that Sweden only can be reformed by revolution, armed revolution if necessary, and that Stalin's murderous campaigns, terrors equalling Hitler's, were mere fabrications of the ruling class and thus untrue.
As for the concept of democracy, Mr. Schibbey and "RKU" proclaimed that the dictatorship of the proletariat is the ultimate form of democracy.
A dictator jailing a future dictator that is Schibbey.
- Double-digit economic growth last 7 years (IMF & Economist Magazine Report)
- Primary school enrollment was 20%, but now 90% (UN report)
- 5 hydroelectric dams completed in last 7 years, more under construction
...And, yes, he routed the army of terrorist State Eritrea and invades Somalia at will to clean out fanatic Islamists and pirates, the same terrorists clueless Swedish reporters recruited to smuggle them into Ethiopia.
How old are you Munir Ahmed? Getting close to 45 yet?