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Peril of African journos
11/11/2003 09:16 - (SA)
Libreville - These are perilous times for journalists working in Africa, where press freedom is steadily losing ground and the threat of arrest, deportation and even murder is on the rise.
"Hardly a week goes by without a journalist being deported here... or threatened elsewhere," said Herve Bourges, president of the International Union of the Francophone Press, in the Gabonese capital.
Journalists working in Africa often come from countries "where democracy functions, where freedom of expression is guaranteed," Bourges said, explaining why the wrongful imprisonment of journalists is particularly upsetting to the Western world.
Demanding the immediate release of AFP correspondent Rodrigo Angue Nguema, who is still being held in Equatorial Guinea, the press organisation's president was applauded by 160 representatives attending a conference of the global Francophone press.
Still in detention
Nguema was arrested on Monday last week in Malabo, and has remained in detention well beyond the 72-hour legal deadline for him either to be informed of the charges against him or released.
He was questioned last week in connection with an October 30 report that quoted officials denying rumours of a foreign-backed coup attempt circulating in Malabo.
Nguema's arrest came less than two weeks after the murder of Radio France International (RFI) correspondent Jean Helene, killed in the Ivory Coast on October 21 by a bullet fired by an Abidjan police officer.
Not counting journalist fatalities in combat zones, Helene was the first journalist killed in Africa directly because of his profession since the November 2000 murder of Mozambican Carlos Cardoso.
But rather than igniting greater press advocacy on the continent, Helene's death was followed by a surge of media arrests and deportations.
On October 23, Sophie Malibeaux, RFI correspondent in Senegal, was deported for her purportedly biased coverage of the conflict in Casamance, a southern region of Senegal where separatist rebels have been conducting an armed uprising since December 1982.
In Niger last Thursday, the owner and editor of the weekly newspaper Le Republicain, Mamane Abou, was arrested for attempting to expose a corruption scandal.
In Mali, three journalists from the private radio station Sido - Cherif Haidara, Mamoutou Traore and Gata Ba - were arrested in late October for airing a report in which a village association criticised an unfavourable court ruling.
Several countries have recently hardened their media laws since 2002, including Togo, Zimbabwe, and Morocco where two journalists were sentenced last Monday to up to two years in prison.
In Zimbabwe, foreign journalists are no longer allowed to work permanently in the country. Zimbabwe law requires all reporters to be accredited by a government-appointed commission, and the only private newspaper in the country, The Daily News, was closed down on September 12 after challenging the law's constitutionality.
- AFP
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