Based in Ethiopia since September 2023, after working for several years in Sudan, our correspondent Augustine Passilly had to leave the country quickly, after having her accreditation and residence permit withdrawn on June 8. An expulsion in due form, even if the word was not uttered by the authorities in Addis Ababa. Our correspondent was sanctioned for having done her job, moreover without breaking the slightest rule.
The origin of this brutal decision is clearly linked to the report that our correspondent had just carried out in Tigray. Augustine Passilly went there, from June 3 to 6, to report on the renewed tensions experienced by this very unstable region in the north of the country, where an extremely deadly conflict with federal forces has left several hundred thousand dead between 2020 and 2022. On site, as our journalist recounts in the reports published by La Croix, the population is alarmed at the risk of a new war and denounces forced recruitment of young men.
Upon her return, Augustine Passilly was summoned by the Ethiopian Media Authority, who criticized her for having gone to Tigray. In Ethiopia, duly accredited foreign correspondents do not need authorization to travel outside Addis Ababa; an Ethiopian press card is sufficient. In addition, no instructions opposing reporting in this region were communicated to journalists on site. La Croix denounces this arbitrary decision by the Ethiopian authorities which violates the principle of press freedom.
