Africa

Last week in Uganda, authorities reacted to violent anti-government demonstrations, at left, by yanking at least four radio stations off the air and banning political programming and some journalists from the airwaves.  I have been covering the Ugandan blogosphere for Global Voices for more than two years. News of the violence first reached me on Thursday afternoon, not through the BBC or The New York Times, but on Twitter. It came in seven words, sent via SMS to the micro-blogging service by my friend Solomon King, a Web developer in the capital, Kampala: “Okay. We're like running for our lives.” 

New York, September 11, 2009--The government-run Uganda Broadcasting Council effectively shut down four radio stations today and Thursday, and ordered all radio stations to halt political debate programming in the wake of violent clashes in the capital, Kampala. 

New York, September 11, 2009—Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo must aggressively investigate threats made against three radio reporters in the eastern city of Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

CPJ sat down recently with the Rwandan minister of information, Louise Mushikiwabo, who spoke of several media developments, including a new press law. “I am convinced the new legislation will help professionalize our media—there were many holes in the former law,” she told CPJ. Some, however, do not share her enthusiasm. 

New York, September 9, 2009—Police should release Mohamed Osman, director of Radio Horyaal, who has been held without charge since his arrest on Saturday outside parliament in Hargeisa, capital of the breakaway republic of Somaliland, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On an ordinary Friday, Sarata Jabbi-Dibba, a reporter in the West African nation of Gambia, publishes her weekly column on women’s issues, “She She She,” in the only independent daily newspaper here, The Point. Last Friday however, Dibba was herself a newsmaker—after recovering her freedom.

New York, September 4, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved about the release of six prominent Gambian journalists on Thursday after President Yahya Jammeh pardoned them. 

New York, September 3, 2009--Five journalists and a TV station covering Gabon's disputed presidential election, which has already been marred by media censorship, have been attacked since Wednesday, according to local journalists and news reports.

Official results announced today declared Ali Ben Bongo--son of Omar Bongo, the late 41-year ruler of the oil-rich, equatorial nation--the winner of Sunday's vote between 18 candidates, but challenges to the results turned to violent unrest. Journalists and media outlets with perceived partisanship to Bongo or his rivals have come under attack. 

New York, September 2, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the health of imprisoned editor Abdoulaye Tiémogo after his transfer from a hospital in Niger's capital, Niamey, to a prison in a remote town on Monday.