A senior journalist for the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), Getachew Chane who has travelled to Canada with President Sahle-Work Zewde has disappeared, Ethiopia Observer has learned.

Getachew travelled to Vancouver, Canada, with the President Sahle-Work to attend the Women Deliver 2019 conference that kicked off on Monday. The four-day meeting was described as the world’s largest on gender equity and the rights of women and girls. Though the journalist did send one dispatch on the President’s arrival on June 2, he has not shown up for the events that he was expected to cover, it was revealed. Colleagues say he is planning to seek asylum in Canada.

Besides to his reporting work, Getachew has served as head of the documentary film section of EBC. As a journalist, he has been close to the regime and has prepared and narrated the controversial film, Jihadawi Harekat, which denounced Muslim leaders and activists for alleged links to foreign terrorists, which was aired on 2013. Getachew is the brother of Kebede Chane, Ethiopian Director General of Refugee and Returnee Affairs Agency.  

Image: President Sahle-Work Zewde holding discussion with Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, in Vancouver