JUNE 7, 2007 Posted June 26, 2007 African Best Business Index Weekly HARASSED Police in the capital, Addis Ababa, summoned 17 staffers of the private English-Amharic African Best Business Index Weekly (ABBI), including Editor-in-Chief Yohannes Rufahel, for questioning about the paper’s license to publish, according to news reports and local journalists.
New York, June 7, 2007—Three private broadcasters covering a government security crackdown in the aftermath of Sunday’s deadly suicide bombing of the residence of the Somali prime minister in the capital, Mogadishu, were indefinitely shuttered on Wednesday after authorities accused the stations of fomenting unrest, according to news reports and local journalists. HornAfrik Radio, the…
New York, June 6, 2007—A court in the capital, Banjul, on Tuesday fined a reporter for a now-banned newspaper in connection with a March 2006 story reporting the arrest of several suspects in the aftermath of a purported coup attempt, according to local journalists and news reports. Lamin Fatty of the private bi-weekly The Independent…
New York, June 1, 2007—A journalist remained hospitalized today after police in the central diamond mining town of Mbuji-Mayi disrupted an official meeting of a prominent Congolese media group on Thursday, assaulting dozens of journalists and seizing personal items, according to the press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and local journalists. François Luboya, the…
New York, May 30, 2007–Blanket censorship imposed last November on private newspapers and radio stations was lifted this week after a six-month state of emergency, imposed in response to deadly unrest in eastern Chad, expired on Saturday, according to officials and local journalists. Three of the leading private newspapers in the capital N’Djamena, including weeklies…
New York, May 25, 2007—A journalist and a dozen staffers of a public broadcaster in southwestern Oyo State were injured on Wednesday when armed supporters of a faction of the ruling PDP party ransacked the station, according to local journalists and news reports. The attack was apparently prompted by the station’s announcement that local elections…
New York, May 23, 2007—Authorities in the central diamond mining town of Mbuji-Mayi closed down a private broadcaster on Sunday in connection with comments critical of the provincial governor that aired on two programs last week, according to local journalists and press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED). Police sealed the studios of Radiotélévision Debout…
New York, May 22, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved by news that Ethiopian authorities released three New York Times journalists on Monday after detaining them for five days. Nairobi Bureau Chief Jeffrey Gettleman, photographer Vanessa Vick, and videographer Courtenay Morris were arrested May 16 by soldiers in the town of Degeh Bur, the…