Fixers are the foundation of the western news industry, yet they suffer significant disparities in income, recognition, and safety. Zleke accompanied Ann Neumann through a war-torn Ethiopia, a nation he quickly had to abandon, afraid for his life.
Zleke knew that he was being watched.
One day in early summer 2022, two men knocked on his home. They knew his identity and carried guns, despite their ordinary clothing. They snatched his phone and ID and urged him to join them. He did not resist.
Two men in military fatigues with AK-47s waited in the car outside. They drove him from his home on the outskirts of Addis Ababa to a prison house deep in Oromo territory. There was a mattress on the floor and little else. Zleke was kept away from the other detainees and the men holding him spoke only Oromo, a regional language, so he was unable to communicate with them. He was then moved to a second location where he was interrogated, insulted and pushed around. After three weeks he was transported to a police station in Addis Ababa, where he was kept for another three weeks, without any way to contact his family.
Six weeks after his abduction, Zleke’s wife answered the door to find two men who asked for money for her husband’s release. She collected what she could and gave them 30,000 birr, about $535. They let him go with these words: “You can go now but you will never be free. We will keep eyes on you. We will never let you live here.”
After that, Zleke stayed inside his home, too afraid to go outside. Once he and his wife decided that he should leave Ethiopia, things went quickly. His passport would expire in less than a year. He had no time to waste.
Zleke worked with an Italian friend to get a visa for Italy.