Journos held for not covering president
2013-01-07 10:08
-
Reef Fishes and Corals
This colourful guide contains concise information on 234 reef fish and 36 coral species found along...
Now R175.00
buy now
Juba - South Sudan has arrested two state broadcast
journalists for failing to ensure coverage of a crucial speech by President
Salva Kiir, a government official said on Sunday, prompting an outcry from an
international media watchdog.
Journalists often complain of persecution by the security
services of the African republic that seceded from Sudan in 2011. That year,
Juba authorities closed a newspaper after it criticized Kiir for allowing his
daughter to marry a foreigner.
The government of South Sudan's Western Bahr El Ghazal state
said it had detained two senior staff at its broadcaster for
"administrative issues" after the station failed to cover Kiir's
visit to the town of Wau last month.
"They were arrested simply because when the president
arrived here in Wau on 22 December 2012 he gave a very, very important
speech," state information minister Derrick Alfred Uya told Reuters.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based media
watchdog, named the detained pair as Louis Pasquale, director-general of the
state broadcaster in Western Bahr el Ghazal, and Ashab Khamis, director of
state television.
The committee said the two had been arrested probably as
part of a campaign to stop the media from investigating recent unrest in Wau.
Soldiers shot dead 10 people protesting against the relocation of a local
council last month, triggering more violence in the town located close to the
Sudan border.
Foreign news channels
"We call on authorities to release Louis Pasquale and
Ashab Khamis immediately, and allow journalists to cover events in the state
without facing intimidation or arrest," CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom
Rhodes said in a statement.
A local journalist said security agents had been pressuring
reporters in Wau to find out who had provided foreign news channels such as
Qatar's Jazeera English with a tape which purportedly shows the shooting of
unarmed protesters in Wau.
"I heard they arrested the journalists because they
suspect the tape comes from state television," said the reporter, asking
not to be named. "They were worried when the tape was shown on
Jazeera."
South Sudan is a country with no media law, making it
difficult for reporters to get information as the government and security
services are mainly made up of ex-guerrillas who are used to impunity, a legacy
of decades of civil war with Sudan.
Last month, unknown gunmen shot dead prominent blogger and
government critic Diing Chan Awuol at his home.
France-based Reporters Without Borders ranked South Sudan
111th out of 179th in its 2011-2012 press freedom index.
