New York, October 16, 2001—In response to a CPJ letter of inquiry sent to Angolan president Eduardo dos Santos on July 10, Angola’s attorney general, Domingos Culolo, wrote that preliminary findings of a police investigation into the fatal shooting of radio journalist Alegria Gustavo revealed that the murder was not politically motivated. On July 8,…
New York, July 10, 2001 — In a letter sent to today to Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos, CPJ expressed deep concern about the murder of Alegria Gustavo, a journalist for the local branch of Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA) in the central province of Huambo. According to sources in Luanda, Gustavo was shot…
New York, August 23, 2001—Immigration officials barred Gilberto Neto, reporter for the independent weekly Folha 8, from leaving Angola on August 18, CPJ has confirmed. Neto was traveling to attend a three-week training course at the Reuters Institute in London. At the airport, immigration officials told him he was not allowed to leave the country…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the latest deterioration in Angolan press freedom. While Angolan journalists have long faced official hostility and harassment, CPJ has documented a deplorable surge in government interference with the independent press in recent weeks.
New York, July 13, 2001 — Authorities in Angola detained journalist and human-rights activist Rafael Marques this afternoon for approximately one hour, according to Angolan sources. Marques was covering the government’s forced relocation of residents from the Boavista district of Luanda to a camp in Viana (approximately 40 km outside Luanda). He, along with other…
By Peter ArnettSHE STOOD DEFIANTLY IN THE CRAMPED QUARTERS OF ISTANBUL’S BEYOGLU CRIMINAL COURT at high noon of a hot midsummer day. The slight, dark-haired Nadire Mater had a message for the court and for the two dozen Turkish reporters and photographers who had gathered to hear her. “The truth is plain to see. Banning…
By Ann CooperIN THE COMMUNITY OF JOURNALISTS WHO HAVE CHRONICLED the past decade’s worst wars, the news last May was devastating. Two of the world’s most dedicated war correspondents, Kurt Schork of Reuters and Miguel Gil Moreno de Mora of The Associated Press, were killed in a rebel ambush in Sierra Leone, a country where…
PRESS COVERAGE OF ARMED CONFLICTS CONTINUED TO STIR THE HOSTILITY of governments and rebel factions alike and claim reporters’ lives, but the prominent role of the press in the often-volatile process of democratization also brought unprecedented challenges to journalists working in Africa. CPJ confirmed that in 2000, five journalists were killed specifically because of their…
AS ANGOLA’S AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENT CONTINUED ITS LONG SIEGE against all forms of dissent last year, independent journalists received special attention from the repressive apparatus of the state. Although most private media outlets are weekly newspapers that reach no more than a few thousand people, the hypersensitive regime of President José Eduardo dos Santos has routinely…