overview of Africaby Kakuna Kerina
National and local elections throughout the region brought an increase in attacks against journalists, both physical and legal. The tactics of intimidation against journalists by first-time candidates, such as Gambian former military ruler, and now president, Yahya Jammeh, were remarkably similar to those of their more experienced colleagues facing their second elections, such as Zambian president Frederick Chiluba. Both severely restricted, and at times banned, the participation of opposition political candidates, and used strong-arm methods to silence the press or prevent its coverage of the electoral process.
In Nigeria, Gen. Sani Abacha-the most recent in a long line of African military dictators who are reinventing themselves as democratically elected heads of state-has implemented a "transition process" slated for completion in 1998 that includes the destruction of the independent press. Abacha has given Nigerian journalists vivid examples of their fate should they continue their criticism of the current military junta: the assassination in broad daylight of Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, wife of publisher and president-elect Moshood Abiola, who remains under incommunicado detention; the attempted assassination of The Guardian publisher Alex Ibru; and the incommunicado detention without charge of Tell editor Nosa Igiebor, TheNEWS editor Bayo Onanuga, media attorney Gani Fawehinmi, and numerous other media professionals and their legal representatives. CPJ's international campaign, "Nigeria: The Press Under Siege," worked closely with Lagos-based journalists to secure the June release of Igiebor, and the subsequent release of Onanuga and Fawehinmi, and continues to spotlight world attention on the crisis facing Nigeria's independent press.
Seditious libel is the legal charge that governments throughout the region use most often against journalists. A compromised and complicit judiciary in partnership with the government and its officials leaves journalists little recourse to challenge this now-routine form of harassment. The excessive fines and court costs growing out of seditious libel convictions are efficient methods to financially cripple or censor the private press, and many of the new multi-party democracies have switched from more thuggish methods of intimidation of journalists to this relatively subtle technique, hoping in the process to improve their international image. CPJ is collaborating with African journalists and their attorneys to strengthen their defense against seditious libel charges and to bring this trend to the attention of the international community.
Parliamentary officials throughout Africa are also targeting journalists with charges of "contempt of parliament" for perceived unfavorable coverage. These contempt charges are rarely heard in courts of law. Instead, parliamentarians serve as prosecutors, jury, and judge, forcing journalists to face charges and receive sentencing, ranging from fines to imprisonment, from their accusers.
The implementation of new restrictive press laws is a major threat to press freedom in the region. CPJ delegates visited Ethiopia this year to investigate the country's press freedom violations, and found an institutionalized system of judicial harassment of journalists, based upon vague and contradictory press laws combined with an antiquated penal code. (See "Clampdown in Addis: Ethiopia's Journalists at Risk," p. 81.) Parliaments throughout Africa are currently drafting and passing, often secretly, media bills and constitutional amendments with the sole purpose of facilitating prosecution of journalists for critical reporting.
Angola, Rwanda, Burundi, and Nigeria continue to be among the most dangerous places in the region for journalists to work. In many countries, self-censorship is the only protection for journalists who face attacks from governments as well as police and fellow citizens. For the second time in two years, an Angolan journalist who had criticized government officials was murdered, and the government failed to launch an official investigation to identify the journalist's killers.
Broadcast media, the most effective means for reaching the majority of citizens outside urban areas, remained under state control throughout most of Africa. Few governments appear willing to sacrifice their broadcast monopolies, especially since the restriction of private press and opposition political parties from ownership of broadcast media denies the majority of the population access to information that could threaten current governments' future success at the ballot box.
Economic obstacles and direct or de facto state telecommunications monopolies limit the access of most African journalists to the Internet, although some enterprising newspapers-notably in Zambia-have been able to use E-mail and the World Wide Web to circumvent cross-border censorship efforts.
Africa's independent press must buck a daunting set of obstacles, including competition with subsidized state-owned media for advertising, the escalating costs of production, government harassment in the form of court fees and fines, and the steady erosion of the population's already limited or non-existent disposable income. Despite these impediments, the region's independent journalists persevere with great conviction. Professional competitors are forming alliances, and some independent journalists are reaching out to former enemies-journalists employed by the state have begun to join with their independent colleagues to strengthen media professionals' defense against autocratic and intolerant governments.
Kakuna Kerina is the program coordinator for Africa. An editor, author, and award-winning documentary filmmaker, she has lived in Ghana and Botswana and traveled throughout Africa.
Selam Demeke, CPJ research assistant for Africa, contributed significantly to this report. Joel Campagna, CPJ's program coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, wrote the Sudan section of the report. Special thanks to Thomas R. Lasner.
