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>Subject: CPJ letter to OAU on media situation in Africa
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>Dear Fellow CAJers,
>       I receive regular newstories and bulletins over the internet from
>the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA).  This arrived in my mailbox
>yesterday and I hope you would find it of some interest.  I find
>information like this helps develop some perspective on the work we do.
>
>Regards,
>Nick Van der Graaf
>
>>The following letter was sent by the New York-based Committee to Protect
>>Journalists to the Secretary-General of the OAU Salim Salim:
>>
>>Subject: CPJ Letter to OAU Annual Summit, 9 July 1996
>>
>>     COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
>>     330 Seventh Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA =98
>>     Phone: (212) 465 1004 =98 Fax: (212) 465 9568 =98 E-Mail: info@cpj.org
>>
>>     9 July 1996
>>
>>     The Honourable Salim Salim
>>     Secretary-General
>>     Organization of African Unity
>>     Yaounde, CAMEROON
>>     VIA FAX: 237 20 11 33
>>
>>     Dear Mr. Secretary-General,
>>
>>     On the occasion of the annual OAU summit currently taking place in
>>     Yaounde, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) would like to draw
>>     your attention to the crisis facing the independent media in several
>>     African countries.
>>
>>     In NIGERIA, four journalists, "The Sunday Magazine" editor-in-chief
>>     Christine Anyanwu, "Weekend Classique" editor Ben Charles Obi, "Tell"
>>     magazine assistant editor George Mbah, and "TheNEWS" editor-in-chief
>>     Kunle Ajibade, have endured deplorable prison conditions since July
>>     1995 when they were convicted and sentenced to 15 years for their
>>     press coverage of a suspected coup plot.  Furthermore, two prominent
>>     media lawyers, Femi Falana and Gani Fawehinmi, have also been
>>     imprisoned without charge since February 1996.  The crackdown on the
>>     local and foreign press rages on, and it occurs simultaneously with
>>     General Abacha's public proclamations of a transition to democracy.
>>     This contradiction raises serious concerns about his Provisional
>>     Ruling Council's commitment to true democratic principles and the
>>     creation of a civil society within which a free and independent press
>>     can flourish and work without fear.
>>
>>     In C=ECTE D'IVOIRE, three journalists, Abou Drahamane Sangar=C7, Emmanu=
>>el
>>     Kor=C7 and Freedom Neruda of the independent media group Nouvel Horizon=
>>,
>>     were sentenced to two years imprisonment in January for a satirical
>>     article in the daily newspaper, "La Voie," which stated that President
>>     B=C7di=C7's presence at a championship football game brought bad luck t=
>>o
>>     the national team.  Since President B=C7di=C7 took office in December
>>     1993, there has been an increase in prosecutions against journalists
>>     sympathetic to the opposition which have resulted in sentences of up
>>     to three years imprisonment.  Attacks on independent Ivoirian
>>     journalists also come in the form of physical harassment: in June
>>     1995, Mr. Sangar=C7 was savagely beaten by four policeman at the order
>>     of Security Minister General Ouassenan Kone for an article he wrote in
>>     his satirical weekly, Bol Kotch, about the minister's treatment of
>>     student unrest in the country.  The beating took place in Minister
>>     Kone's office, and in his presence.
>>
>>     In THE GAMBIA, the situation for the independent press continues to
>>     deteriorate.  Since Capt. Yahya Jammeh took control of the country in
>>     1994, the independent press has been a primary target of Jammeh's
>>     repression.  Countless restrictive decrees, arbitrary detention,
>>     physical beatings, and deportations and expulsions are just a few of
>>     the weapons in Jammeh's arsenal.  This year, Jammeh, who referred to
>>     journalists as "Africa's enemies," passed Decree 45, which sanctioned
>>     impunity of the National Intelligence Agency.  With Decree 45, the NIA
>>     is licensed to arrest without warrant, and detain indefinitely without
>>     charge, in cases relating to "national security."  This year alone,
>>     CPJ has recorded at least four cases in which independent journalists
>>     were detained without explanation for days for articles they had
>>     written.  Three of those journalists have fled the country for their
>>     lives.
>>
>>     In ZAMBIA, President Chiluba has rapidly distinguished himself as one
>>     of the worst violators of press freedom in southern Africa.  Using
>>     criminal law as a form of censorship to protect himself against
>>     unfavorable criticism, President Chiluba has routinely charged the
>>     independent press, namely the leading Zambian independent daily, "The
>>     Post," with libel. Employees of "The Post" have been hauled into court
>>     for their reports on government corruption so often that they have
>>     lost count of the numerous charges filed against them, the sentences
>>     for which amount to more than 100 years in prison.  This year,
>>     President Chiluba banned the February 5 edition of the newspaper as
>>     well as that day's on-line edition, marking the first act of
>>     censorship on the Internet in Africa.  Later that month, three editors
>>     of the "The Post" were charged with "contempt of parliament" and
>>     sentenced to indefinite detention by the National Assembly, not a
>>     court of law, until they publicly apologized for writing opinion
>>     pieces critical of proclamations by members of parliament.
>>
>>     In ANGOLA, threats against journalists, especially the threat of
>>     murder, are unwavering.  Since the signing of the Lusaka Protocol in
>>     November 1994, it is evident that neither side in Angola's bloody
>>     civil war has observed the peace plan's terms, particularly press
>>     freedom.  Barely two months after the signing, editor Ricardo de Mello
>>     was gunned down in front of his house.  His assassination brought the
>>     number of killed journalists in Angola to 12 since the September 1992
>>     elections.  His murder also represents a new extreme in the growing
>>     trend of state intimidation; press freedom remains fragile at best in
>>     Angola where self-censorship is the norm.  Press freedom is even more
>>     tightly controlled in areas dominated by UNITA, where no criticism is
>>     tolerated, all information is censored and even foreign correspondents
>>     are stage-managed.  No one has been brought to justice for the murders
>>     of the 12 journalists to date.
>>
>>     In KENYA, attacks on the independent media continue unabated, so much
>>     so that CPJ has named President Moi one of the world's top ten
>>     "Enemies of the Press."  President Moi has declared war on the press,
>>     and has widened his net to include foreign correspondents.  Critical
>>     coverage of Moi's administration has been decreed a criminal offense,
>>     and newspapers or printers have been arbitrarily closed for publishing
>>     opposing viewpoints.  Journalists covering the trial of human rights
>>     activist Koigi wa Wamwere have been physically attacked.  And two
>>     restrictive draft media laws that would have instituted a
>>     government-mandated code of conduct and a regulatory council were
>>     "shelved indefinitely" after widespread international condemnation.
>>
>>     In LIBERIA, the recent severe outbreak in fighting in the capital
>>     Monrovia has seen unspeakable destruction of the country's leading
>>     print and broadcast media houses.  The offices of three radio
>>     stations, two independent newspapers, and a printing press which
>>     serviced all local publications were destroyed by arson, attacked by
>>     armed fighters, or thoroughly looted, setting back the independent
>>     press by tens of years and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
>>     Journalists have been systematically targeted throughout the
>>     five-and-a-half years of civil war by warring factions.
>>
>>     In CAMEROON, the very country where African heads of states are
>>     currently gathered, prior (pre-publication) censorship continues to be
>>     practiced--one of the last places on earth to do so.  Last year, CPJ
>>     recorded at least 10 incidents in which independent newspapers were
>>     seized or banned.  Vendors have been robbed and beaten by police,
>>     citizens harassed for reading banned papers, journalists arbitrarily
>>     detained without charge, interrogated and assaulted.  Radio and
>>     television broadcasting remain under complete control of President
>>     Biya's ruling party.
>>
>>     The above scenarios are just a few examples of the siege that
>>     independent journalists continent-wide are working under on a daily
>>     basis.  Criminal libel, arbitrary detention, all forms of censorship,
>>     detention without charge, intimidation, assaults and murder of
>>     journalists have no place in democracies.  These measures are
>>     contradictory in the very least to the right to hold and express
>>     opinions and ideas, and to the public's right to information.  These
>>     rights are guaranteed  by Article 19 of the United Nations Universal
>>     Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 of the International Covenant
>>     on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 9 of the African Charter on
>>     Human and Peoples' Rights, to which most African countries are
>>     signatories.
>>
>>     As a nonpartisan group of journalists dedicated to the protection of
>>     their colleagues' rights worldwide, CPJ urges you to make press
>>     freedom and freedom of expression prioritis on your agenda for the
>>     annual OAU summit.
>>
>>     Thank you for your attention.
>>
>>     Kakuna Kerina
>>     Program Coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa
>>
>>
>>     cc:
>>     His Excellency General Sani Abacha
>>     His Excellency President Henri Konan B=C7di=C7
>>     His Excellency Captain Yahya Jammeh
>>     His Excellency President Frederick Chiluba
>>     His Excellency President Jos=C7 Eduardo dos Santos; Jonas Malheiro
>>     Savimbi
>>     His Excellency President Daniel arap Moi
>>     Councilmembers of the Liberian National Transitional Government - II
>>     His Excellency President Paul Biya
>>     Mr. Abid Hussain, UN Special Rapporteur, Freedom of Opinion and
>>     Expression
>>     TransAfrica
>>     African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
>>     African Rights
>>     African Correspondents Association
>>     World Bank
>>     International Monetary Fund
>>     United States Agency for International Development
>>     Media Rights Agenda
>>     Amnesty International
>>     Article 19 (United Kingdom)
>>     Artikel 19 (The Netherlands)
>>     Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists
>>     Human Rights Watch
>>     Index on Censorship
>>     International Association of Broadcasting
>>     International Commission of Jurists
>>     International Federation of Journalists
>>     International Journalism Institute
>>     International PEN
>>     International Press Institute
>>     Reporters Sans Frontieres
>>     Overseas Press Club
>>     World Press Freedom Committee
>>
>>David Lush
>>Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
>>Private Bag 13386
>>Windhoek, Namibia
>>Tel. +264 61 232975, Fax. 248016
>>e-mail: dlush@ingrid.misa.org.na
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>--
>*Nick Van der Graaf*
>*Ottawa, Canada*
>*Phone: (613) 725-3446  E-mail: ao759@FreeNet.Carleton.CA*
>*Your views, discussion, ideas, replies etc. are valued and encouraged.*
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