ADDIS ABABA - A senior United Nations official urged Ethiopia on Monday to stop shutting off the internet without legal basis and revise a draft law meant to curb hate speech to ensure it protects freedom of speech.
“The government continues to think that internet shutdowns are a tool they should use and I want to strongly urge them not to use them as tools and to commit not to using them,” David Kaye, the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of expression, told a news conference in Addis Ababa. Abiy took office last year and won the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his peacemaking efforts with neighbouring Eritrea. He has also freed political prisoners and journalists and unbanned opposition parties, although the new freedoms have coincided with rising ethnic violence that has forced nearly 3.5 million people from their homes in two years.
Kaye said officials were unable to give a legal basis for Internet shutdowns though"some continued to justify it."
I wonder how much he knows the level of cyber attacks the country is experiencing? Is he imposing the criminals to rob the country? More than ever, the country motivates freedom of expression, and when it comes to protecting the country, all measures need to be taken!