CPJ: Ethiopia detains reporter on evictions at dam

[May 31, 2013]  JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- The Committee to Protect Journalists says Ethiopian authorities have detained a reporter covering evictions near the construction of a massive hydroelectric dam that is raising tensions with Nile-dependent Egypt.

It says Muluken Tesfahun of the private weekly Ethio-Mehedar has been held since May 4.

The New York-based group says Tesfahun was reporting on the return of thousands of farmers who had been forced from their land near the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The government has admitted the March evictions were illegal.

Another journalist who reported on alleged coercion to force government workers to contribute to the $4.3 billion project was tried for terrorism and sentenced to two years' jail.

The dam may affect flows of water to Egypt which has no other water source.

[Associated Press]

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