Lack of press freedom slammed

2006-03-15 00:04

Nairobi -An international press watchdog expressed concern on Tuesday about deteriorating media freedom in east Africa where, it said, governments were developing a steady pattern of clamping down on journalists.

The New York-based committee to protect journalists (CPJ) said Ethiopia was ranked among the world's worst jailors of journalists, while Kenya and Uganda were picking up the trend.

"The CPJ is concerned that there is a deterioration of press freedom in the east African region," said Julia Crawford, the organisation's co-ordinator for Africa.

She was speaking after a weeklong visit to Ethiopia, where her delegation met with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

The group noted a "pattern of constant harassment" of journalists in the region, including the jailing of at least 16 in Ethiopia, the raid on a media group in Kenya and the expulsion of a reporter from Uganda.

"We believe that in a free and democratic society, there should be no criminal penalties against journalists for press offences," Crawford said.

Deep political divide

She explained that the deep political divide in Ethiopia - sparked by protests over alleged irregularities in last May's polls - had fuelled a massive crackdown on the country's private press, promoting self-censorship.

Fourteen journalists are detained on charges of treason and genocide and could face the death penalty, while two others are yet to be charged.

"They see them as not only journalists, but as people who are helping the opposition to propagate ethnic unrest, and as being part of a conspiracy to overthrow constitutional order," Crawford said.

The fact that 16 journalists were in prison made Ethiopia "the worst jailor of journalists in Africa in terms of numbers - the second being Eritrea, which, according to our statistics, now has 15 journalists in prison".

- AFP