Africa

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the prison sentences handed down to Raymond Kabala and Delly Bonsange, publication director and publisher, respectively, of the independent Kinshasa daily Alerte Plus. On September 6, a Kinshasa court convicted Kabala and Bonsange of “harmful accusations” and “falsification of a public document.” Kabala was sentenced to 12 months in prison and a fine of US$200,000. Bonsange was sentenced to six months and fine of US$100,000.

In the months following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, journalists around the world confronted an unprecedented press freedom crisis.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the climate for independent journalism in Niger, following the recent arrests of two journalists and a presidential decree restricting the media.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the detention of Sudanese journalist Osman Merghani, a columnist for the Khartoum-based daily Al-Rai Al-Aam newspaper.

New York, September 3, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the recent escape from maximum-security detention of Anibal Antonio dos Santos Junior, better known as Anibalzinho, a leading suspect in the murder of Mozambican investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso. A police spokesperson yesterday confirmed to reporters and to the Cardoso family that…

New York, August 29, 2002—Unknown persons bombed the offices of the Voice of the People (VOP) Communications Trust yesterday morning. The private news production company, which has been producing shows since June 2000, was housed in a suburb of the capital city, Harare. The explosion is the fourth such attack on the independent media in…

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned that Togo continues its slide toward becoming West Africa’s worst press freedom abuser. We are particularly alarmed at recently proposed legislation to amend Togo’s already repressive press laws.

After years of war and civil unrest, peace and elections have given Sierra leone’s journalists a new set of issues to face.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is extremely concerned about the whereabouts and the safety of Hassan Bility, editor-in-chief of The Analyst newspaper, which is based in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. He has been held incommunicado in state custody for almost two months.

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,…