Equatorial Guinea / Africa

Since President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo took control in a 1979 military coup, he and his ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea have governed one of Africa’s most repressive regimes. The country’s small press has been incessantly harassed and intimidated, while citizens have been fined for reading controversial publications. Obiang’s landslide re-election victory in December…

Hopes were high in July that Ivory Coast’s political crisis would end after a judge in the capital, Abidjan, confirmed that former prime minister Alassane Dramane Ouattara, the leader of the opposition Rally for Republicans (RDR), is an Ivory Coast citizen.

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…