Africa

Yesterday, while reporting on breaking news in Mali from studios in Atlanta, CNN Wire Newsdesk Editor Faith Karimi made an ominous observation that presaged the outcome of developments unfolding 5,000 miles away. "#Mali president @PresidenceMali has not tweeted in 10 hours after reports of gunfire and a coup attempt," she tweeted.

New York, March 21, 2012--Kenyan authorities should hold responsible police officers who assaulted three reporters last week and drop a baseless legal case against one of them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, March 21, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns attacks by Ugandan police against two journalists in separate incidents outside of police stations today.

Veteran Somali radio journalist Hassan Mohamed, 45, died early yesterday morning in Eastleigh, a Nairobi suburb. He had fled Mogadishu in 2010, having been threatened, kidnapped, and shot twice. One of hundreds of Somali refugees in Kenya, many of them journalists, Hassan struggled to support himself and survive worsening diabetes-related ailments, despite relentless support from Somali colleagues and friends, including CPJ. His death highlights the plight of exiled journalists in East Africa.

New York, March 20, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Gabon's authorities to drop legal proceedings against six journalists in connection with articles raising questions about use of a presidential plane. Two of the journalists have fled the country fearing arrest after being summoned by police for interrogation.

Who killed Floribert Chebeya, the president of the leading DRC human rights group La Voix des Sans Voix, and his driver, Fidèle Bazana, in June 2010 in Kinshasa? A few runaway police officers, according to the military tribunal that judged the case and issued its sentences one year later. A few bad apples, who acted on their own, without any order from their hierarchy.

New York, March 19, 2012--A Nigerian journalist who has extensively covered the conflict between the government and Islamist sect Boko Haram says his life is under threat.

Ahmad Salkida, an independent journalist, told CPJ that he noticed a white 4X4 Hilux with a Lagos state registration number following him on Thursday for several hours, including to his house in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. He said he has also received phone threats from anonymous callers in the past few days that he believes are coming from government security agents in connection to his contacts with Boko Haram. "They said I am a Boko Haram member, that me and them are not supposed to exist. That they know where I live and they will visit me," Salkida told CPJ.

Last week, a judge in Senegal convicted a man of assaulting three journalists outside their newspaper's office in the capital Dakar last month. The attack was not related to journalism, but the quick arrest and prosecution of the perpetrator serves as an instructive contrast between the handling of an ordinary crime and the handling of abuses against journalists in the line of duty - cases which are usually politicized, stalled, or both.

No media outlet critical of President Bingu Wa Mutharika or the ruling Democratic Progressive Party was spared by the government this past weekend -- whether print, broadcast, or online. The broadside included a public campaign to discredit the media as well as threats of fines and arrests of critical journalists.

March 13, 2012

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
President of the Republic of Liberia
Executive Mansion
P.O. Box 9001
Capitol Hill, Monrovia
Republic of Liberia

Dear President Johnson Sirleaf:

The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by threats made against Liberian journalist Mae Azango, who has been in hiding since last week after she reported on the practice of female genital mutilation. We urge you, Madam President, as Africa's first and only female head of state and a champion of women's rights, to direct the Liberian authorities to ensure her safety and fully investigate the threats made against her.

Azango, a reporter for the daily FrontPage Africa and New Narratives, a project supporting independent media in Africa, published an article on March 8 entitled "Growing Pains: Sande Tradition of Genital Cutting Threatens Liberian Women's Health." The article described how tribes practice female genital mutilation on as many as two out of every three girls in the country. Although March 8 was International Women's Day, the publication of the article was followed by death threats against Azango. "They left messages and told people to tell me that they will catch me and cut me so that will make me shut up," she told CPJ. "I have not been sleeping in my house."

National Police Deputy Director Al Karley told CPJ today that he had made Azango's case a high priority. However, we believe your political leadership is required to ensure the government will take the necessary steps to ensure the safety and well-being of this journalist.

We ask you, Madam President, to use the moral authority of your office to speak out against the threats made against Azango, and to ensure that other journalists taking on this sensitive topic do not suffer the same fate.

We look forward to your response.

Joel Simon
Executive Director