Africa

The right to receive and impart information is a fundamental human right enshrined in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but in Zimbabwe, watching news of North African and Middle East protests apparently amounts to treason. 

Five years after helping her leave her region due to threats, CPJ catches up with Rwandan journalist Lucie Umukundwa to learn more about her struggles to resettle in another continent, regain a foothold in journalism and continue to make an impact in Africa.

New York, March 3, 2011--A court in Angola's southwestern province of Namibe sent a journalist to prison today without due process over his coverage of a sexual harassment scandal that implicated the province's top judicial official, according to local journalists and news reports.

Judge Manuel Araujo sentenced Armando José Chicoca, a freelancer who reports for U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) and private Angolan newspapers such as Folha 8, Agora, and O Apostolado, to one year in prison and a fine of 200,000 kwanza (US$2,100), according to news reports.

New York, March 3, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the safety of a Cameroonian editor who is being prosecuted in connection with a leaked official document, according to local journalists and news reports.

New York, March 1, 2011--Supporters behind incumbent Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo and rival Alassane Ouattara are targeting rival partisan media oulets and their journalists in an increasingly bloody struggle for power, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, February 24, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Ugandan police to conduct a thorough investigation and arrest all the perpetrators involved in the brutal attacks against six journalists on Wednesday during local elections in the capital, Kampala. Men believed to be supporters of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party mayoral candidate for Kampala, attacked journalists covering the mayoral elections at the Kakeeka polling station in the capital, local journalists told CPJ. 

New York, February 23, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the shooting of a freelance journalist by Ugandan soldiers on February 18, the day of parliamentary and presidential elections. Soldiers shot and injured freelance journalist Julius Odeke near Bugusege, eastern Uganda. 

New York, February 18, 2011--Ivorian police in the economic capital, Abidjan, interrogated and issued summonses for questioning this week for editors of newspapers favorable to former presidential candidate Alassane Ouattara, according to local journalists. The U.N. has recognized Ouattara as the president-elect since disputed November 2010 runoff elections against President Laurent Gbagbo.