Kenya / Africa

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.

On December 30, opposition National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) leader Emilio Mwai Kibaki won Kenya’s landmark presidential election with an enormous majority, replacing Daniel arap Moi, who, after 24 years in power, was barred by a new constitution from seeking another term. Because the elections were the toughest challenge ever to Kenya’s ruling African National Union…

New York, August 15, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is pleased to announce that a Kenyan journalist who was serving a six-month sentence in a maximum-security prison just outside the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, was released yesterday by presidential decree. Njehu Gatabaki, an opposition member of Parliament and the publisher and editor-in-chief of Finance magazine,…

New York, August 13, 2002—A journalist who was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for publishing an “alarming report” was transferred yesterday to a maximum-security prison outside the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. On August 9, 2002, Njehu Gatabaki, an opposition member of Parliament and the publisher and editor-in-chief of Finance magazine, was found guilty of publishing an…

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by the six-month jail sentence handed down to Njehu Gatabaki, opposition member of Parliament and the publisher and editor-in-chief of Finance magazine.

New York, June 7, 2002—The Kenyan High Court has ordered copies of the Weekly Citizen off the streets following a complaint from a businessman. High Court judge Andrew Hayanga issued a temporary injunction forbidding the managing editor of Weekly Citizen, a tabloid known for salacious reporting, and its vendors from continuing to distribute the June…

New York, April 25, 2002—CPJ is alarmed that Kenyan attorney general Amos Wako has reintroduced a repressive media bill in Parliament. The contentious Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill would increase 100-fold the bond publishers must pay to insure against losses they may incur from libel or defamation suits. Currently, publishers must pay 10,000 shillings (US$129)…

Silence reigned supreme in Eritrea, where the entire independent press was under a government ban and 11 journalists languished in jail at year’s end. Clamorous, deadly power struggles raged in Zimbabwe over land and access to information, and in Burundi over ethnicity and control of state resources. South Africa, Senegal, and Benin remained relatively liberal…

Continuing a trend that began in 2000, high-ranking politicians and legislators–led by President Daniel arap Moi–brought several libel and defamation suits against the press last year. The judiciary responded by awarding record libel damages, introducing bankruptcy as a possible tool to silence critical media.

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…