Unrest shatters press freedom gains in the Democratic Republic of Congo with attacks and imprisonments surging yet again.A Special report by Julia Crawford The fragile state of press freedom in the Democratic Republic of Congo was shattered when the eastern city of Bukavu fell briefly to Rwandan-backed rebels in early June. State-imposed restrictions and imprisonment,…
New York, September 2, 2004–Police arrested the editor-in-chief of the independent Somali-language daily Jamhuuriya and its weekly English-language edition, The Republican, in the self-declared republic of Somaliland this week. Hassan Said Yusuf was still in police custody today, and local journalists have not been allowed to visit him, according to local sources. Yusuf was arrested…
New York, May 19, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has confirmed that Abdishakur Yusuf Ali, editor of the independent weekly War-Ogaal, has been in jail without charge for almost one month in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland in Somalia. Abdishakur was arrested on April 21 after War-Ogaal published an article accusing Puntland Finance…
MAY 3, 2004 Posted: June 10, 2005 Mohamed Halane, HornAfrik ATTACKED Nuradin Mualin Muktar, Baydhabo.com and Midnimo.com ATTACKED Halane, a reporter for private radio HornAfrik and Mualin, an online journalist, were injured in a huge blast at a Mogadishu stadium, where they were covering a rally by Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi. At least 15…
New York, April 26, 2004—CPJ is deeply concerned about reports that two journalists have been detained in separate incidents in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeast Somalia, and the self-declared republic of Somaliland. Abdishakur Yusuf Ali, editor-in-chief of the independent War-Ogaal newspaper in Bossasso, Puntland, was arrested on April 21, because of an article…
By Ann CooperIn real-time images, the war in Iraq splashed across television screens worldwide in March, with thousands of journalists covering the U.S.-led war against Saddam Hussein and his regime. The conflict and its aftermath had a far-reaching impact on the press and its ability to report the news, with the reverberations felt in some…
Although the number of journalists in prison in Africa at the end of 2003 was lower than the previous year, African journalists still faced a multitude of difficulties, including government harassment and physical assaults. Many countries in Africa retain harsh press laws. In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, some…
Somalia has had no effective central authority since the fall of dictator Siad Barre in 1991. A peace agreement in 2000, which led to the installation of the weak Transitional National Government (TNG) in the capital, Mogadishu, fueled the revival of independent media, including local radio stations, newspapers, and Internet sites. Somalia’s high rate of…