French journalist Augustine Passilly has been expelled from Ethiopia after authorities revoked her press accreditation and residence permit, effectively preventing her from continuing her reporting in the country, she told Ethiopia Observer.
Passilly, who reports for the French newspaper La Croix, had been working in Ethiopia since September 2023. Her latest assignment took her to Shire in the Tigray region between 3 and 6 June, where she was reporting on local residents’ fears of renewed conflict and pressure linked to possible war-related financing demands.
According to her account shared with Ethiopia Observer, on 4 June at around 8 a.m. a representative of the Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA) contacted her and ordered her to return immediately to Addis Ababa. She was unable to comply due to limited flight availability from Shire, as well as from Mekelle and Axum, where departures were reportedly crowded with civilians fleeing toward the capital.
Upon returning to Addis Ababa on 6 June, Passilly was summoned by the Ethiopian Media Authority. Officials, including director Haymanot Zeleke and deputy director Yonatan Tesfaye, questioned her decision to travel to Tigray despite what they described as ongoing instability following the reinstatement of the pre-war regional administration in early May. Her accreditation was temporarily suspended pending an investigation.
Two days later, on 8 June, she was summoned by Ethiopia’s immigration services, formally known as the Immigration and Citizenship Services. After a brief interview, she was informed that both her press accreditation and residence permit—valid until September—had been cancelled. She was required to obtain an exit visa and left Ethiopia on 11 June.
Passilly had entered Ethiopia in 2023, when travel to Tigray was still restricted. That restriction was later eased informally in May 2024 through communications with the media authority, and no subsequent formal prohibition on reporting in the region had been issued, according to her account.
Sorry for her. Apparently, we needed an all-knowing French girl to explain us to ourselves—or perhaps to explain us to French readers.I think her stay in Ethiopia will be a positive addition to her CV. Her interest in the country is just a footnote in her professional life. She may have met several Ethiopians—perhaps some who were overly deferential—who continue to write to her.
She presents herself as objective, yet she seems eager to categorize people by ethnic group. In her own country, asking someone about their ethnic background in this way would generally be considered inappropriate. Yet when it comes to Ethiopia—and Africa more broadly—she seems to regard such questions as perfectly acceptable.