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Zim forces out foreign journo
18/02/2005 20:57 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa correspondent in Zimbabwe Jan Raath on Friday said he had been forced to leave the country owing to increased police pressure and a fear of arrest.
"I left under the pressure," Raath told colleagues in South Africa after departing from the Zimbabwean capital Harare earlier in the week. "I think it's a permanent goodbye."
Zimbabwe police at the beginning of the week raided the offices in which Raath worked alongside a number of colleagues from other foreign media outlets, searching them thoroughly for two days despite lacking the necessary documentation permitting them to do so.
On Monday, security officials questioned Raath and a number of fellow international correspondents on allegations of spying, working illegally as journalists and of using unauthorised communications equipment.
"I was frightened that they were going to arrest us. They were looking for any excuses to arrest and silence us before the elections," Raath, who has worked in Zimbabwe for dpa as well as for British newspaper The Times since 1994, said.
Observers said the development was an indication of a government crackdown on the small number of foreign correspondents, all Zimbabwean citizens, remaining in Harare ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for March 31.
The office of the dpa editor-in-chief in Hamburg on Friday criticised the actions of the Zimbabwean security forces and said details of the case would be submitted to the International Press Institute (IPI).
The IPI, a Vienna-based press freedom watchdog, (www.freemedia.at ) is a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists dedicated to safeguarding press freedom and the free flow of information. - Sapa-dpa
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