Africa

2018

  
Alerts
A police officer stands guard in Bamenda on February 22, 2018. Authorities in the city are detaining an Abakwa FM journalist over claims he aired secessionist propaganda. (AFP/Reinnier Kaze)

Cameroon military court orders radio journalist to be held for at least 6 months

New York, May 7, 2018–Cameroonian authorities must immediately release broadcaster Akumbom Elvis McCarthy from detention and ensure that the country’s military courts are not used to prosecute journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Letters

CPJ expresses concerns to Ethiopia’s PM about lack of media freedom in the country

CPJ writes to Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed urging him to call for reforms that will encourage a diverse and free press in Ethiopia and uphold the public’s access to information.

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Features & Analysis
Cartoonist Ramón Nsé Esono Ebalé, pictured in court in February 2018. The journalist was acquitted and released from jail but authorities in Equatorial Guinea have not renewed his passport, which means Esono Ebalé cannot return to El Salvador. (AFP/Samuel Obiang)

CPJ joins call for Equatorial Guinea to renew cartoonist’s passport

CPJ, along with eight other human rights organizations, today urged the government of Equatorial Guinea to renew without further delay the passport of acclaimed cartoonist Ramón Nsé Esono Ebalé.

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Alerts
A view of Liberia's capital, Monrovia, in October 2017. Police are investigating the death of a journalist found stabbed outside his home in the city. (AFP/Issouf Sanogo)

Journalist found stabbed and killed in Liberia

New York, April 18, 2018–Liberian authorities should thoroughly investigate the killing of Tyron Brown, a video editor and camera operator with Super Communications, a privately owned outlet that runs Super FM and Super Television, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Alerts
Locals walk along the beach during sunset in the capital Luanda, Angola in June 2016. CPJ today condemned a decision by Angolan authorities to continue the trial of journalists Rafael Marques de Morais, who runs the anti-corruption news website Maka Angola, and Mariano Bras Lourenco, a correspondent for the newspaper O Crime, behind closed doors instead of in open court. (Reuters/Ed Cropley)

CPJ concerned with developments in trial against Angolan journalists

New York, April 16, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a decision by Angolan authorities to continue the trial of journalists Rafael Marques de Morais, who runs the anti-corruption news website Maka Angola, and Mariano Bras Lourenco, a correspondent for the newspaper O Crime, behind closed doors instead of in open court. The two…

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Alerts
Liberia's President George Weah speaks during his swearing-in ceremony at Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Monrovia, Liberia on January 22, 2018. One of the plaintiffs in a US$1.8 million civil defamation lawsuit against Front Page Africa was previously affiliated with Weah's Coalition for Democratic Change party. (Reuters/Thierry Gouegnon)

Liberia should reform libel laws in wake of $1.8 million civil lawsuit against Front Page Africa

New York, April 11, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over a US$1.8 million civil defamation lawsuit against Front Page Africa, a privately owned Liberian newspaper that has long been the subject of complaints and harassment for its critical reporting on successive governments.

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Features & Analysis
Riot police prepare ahead of civilian protests in Kinshasa. Journalists covering unrest in the DRC risk being detained, attacked, or harassed. (Reuters/Kenny Katombe)

Journalists covering unrest in the DRC face arrests, assault, and internet shutdowns

On New Year’s Eve, as the world prepared to ring in 2018, Congolese journalist Edmon Izula was being repeatedly hit with a rifle and threatened at gunpoint by a member of the state security forces. Iluza was one of at least three journalists harassed by authorities that day, in a scenario that has become common…

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Statements
Broadcast journalist Baba Alpha was accused of using false identity documents in retaliation for his reporting. (Mohamed Alpha)

CPJ calls on Niger to stop persecuting journalist Baba Alpha

New York, April 5, 2018–Nigerien authorities should reverse the expulsion of journalist Baba Alpha and ensure his safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. After jailing him for a year, authorities on April 3 released Baba Alpha, a journalist with the privately owned radio and television news agency Bonferey, and drove him to Labbezanga,…

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Alerts
Congolese journalists stand in solidarity with imprisoned journalist Eliezer Ntambwe in front of the DRC's Prosecutor General's Office in Kinshasa on April 3, 2018. (Credit withheld)

DRC journalist Eliezer Ntambwe detained without charge

New York, April 4, 2018–Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo should immediately release Eliezer Ntambwe, a journalist and presenter at the privately owned news outlet and YouTube channel Tokomi Wapi, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Features & Analysis
Ethiopian jounalist Eskinder Nega (center) is released from jail in February 2018. The country's authorities since re-arrested Eskinder and at least five other journalists. (AFP/Yonas Tadesse)

CPJ joins call for Ethiopia’s prime minister-designate to ensure journalists’ immediate release

The Committee to Protect Journalists, along with 40 civil society organizations, yesterday sent a joint letter to Ethiopia’s prime minister-designate, Abiy Ahmed, urging him to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of recently arrested journalists, and human rights defenders.

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2018