Africa

Colin Freeman, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Telegraph
José Cendon, freelance

ABDUCTED

New York, January 2, 2009--A government soldier killed Radio Shabelle reporter Hassan Mayow Hassan, shooting the veteran journalist twice in the head after stopping him in the Somali town of Afgoye on Thursday morning, three local journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists today. The journalists said they had interviewed witnesses to the killing. 

Zimbabwe's media has suffered much from repression, exile, and worse, and on December 18 it lost one of its most beloved and compassionate voices. Caroline Gombakomba, a reporter and radio host since 2003 for the Voice of America's Studio 7 broadcasts to the Southern African country, died in Silver Spring, Maryland. Gombakomba, 40, had been fighting breast cancer for years and in this second round met death with her customary serenity and courage.

With the death on Monday of Guinean President Lansana Conté, uncertainty hangs over what--or who--is to follow. Yet, as recently as last week, coverage of the poor health of the reclusive autocrat, who ruled this mineral-rich but poor West African nation since 1984, proved risky for the Guinean independent media. 

Dear Mr. President: We urge you to reject the recently passed Kenya Communications Amendment Bill, which includes provisions that would severely harm press freedom. Legislators approved the measure on December 10, ignoring concerns raised by journalists, media company owners, and even fellow lawmakers.

New York, December 19, 2008--The only radio station in an Islamist-controlled town in southern Somalia was shuttered by militants in a raid last week, according to the station's director....

MwanHalisi CENSORED OCTOBER 13, 2008 The Ministry of Information, Sports, and Culture banned the private weekly MwanHalisi for three months starting October 13, for “inciting public hatred against the president.”...

New York, December 18, 2008—For the sixth consecutive year, Iraq was the deadliest country in the world for the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its end-of-year analysis. The 11 deaths recorded in Iraq in 2008, while a sharp drop from prior years, remained among the highest annual...

New York, December 17, 2008--A journalist who disappeared in Zimbabwe on Saturday may be in police custody, journalists in Harare told CPJ....