Democracy First Responders - Ethiopia - Mesud Gebeyehu

Global

Over the past few years, Ethiopia has made significant democratic progress, but with coronavirus jeopardizing democracies across the globe, that progress is at risk. Ethiopia’s elections, once scheduled for the end of August, are now indefinitely delayed and many Ethiopians fear the government is manipulating the country’s state of emergency to restrict the free speech of its citizens. Enter Mesud Gebeyehu, the Executive Director of the Consortium of Ethiopian Human Rights Organizations. At the onset of the pandemic, Mesud’s consortium called for the Ethiopian government to implement prevention methods according to WHO standards and respect freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Mesud spoke with host Travis Green about his own experiences in Ethiopia and his hopes for continued democratic progress in the country.