Africa

2008

  

Carole Gombakomba: A unique Zimbabwean voice is lost

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…

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Guinean media at near-standstill after president’s death

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. 

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CPJ urges Kibaki to reject media bill

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.

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Broadcaster silenced in Islamist-held city

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.

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TANZANIA: Government bans private weekly

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

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For sixth straight year, Iraq deadliest nation for press

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 tolls in CPJ history.

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Photojournalist missing in Zimbabwe

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

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Remembering Deyda Hydara, four years after his murder

I last saw Deyda Hydara alive on December 14, 2004, only two days before his death. To this day, the gunmen who shot dead the Gambia’s best-known journalist as he drove home from work are still at large. The crime remains unsolved.

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Burkina Faso police question Zongo protesters

This morning, police in Burkina Faso summoned four leaders of a march over the weekend that called for a renewed investigation into the unsolved 1998 assassination of investigative journalist Norbert Zongo. Among those questioned was Jean-Claude Meda, the president of the Association of Journalists of Burkina Faso, who told me that he received a call…

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Norbert Zongo’s murder: No justice after 10 years

Ten years ago on Saturday, the bullet-ridden bodies of investigative journalist Norbert Zongo and three friends were found in Zongo’s burned-out car outside the capital of Burkina Faso.

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2008