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PROVINCIAL OFFICIAL KILLS JOURNALIST; PRESS CONDITIONS DETERIORATE

Alegria Gustavo, a journalist for the local branch of Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA) in the province of Huambo, was murdered on 8 July, report the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters sans frontières (RSF) and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). The four organisations report that Gustavo was shot dead by provincial vice-administrator Matias Kassoma after leaving a party. The journalist's friends reportedly attacked Kassoma after witnessing the murder and left him in critical condition. RSF, CPJ and CJFE have called on the government to conduct a thorough investigation into the murder. MISA notes that the Angolan government has not been able to explain past killings of journalists including Ricardo de Mello, Feliciano Zau Bunga, Antonio Casimiro and Simão Roberto.

Gustavo's murder comes at a time of deteriorating press freedom conditions, according to RSF. Among other concerns, it points to the decision by Catholic broadcaster Rádio Ecclésia to suspend its news programmes. The radio station, which has only broadcast religious music since 9 July, took the action to protect itself from possible closure by the authorities, says RSF. MISA adds that the state-owned and controlled daily "Jornal de Angola" has recently labelled Rádio Ecclésia the new version of VORGAN, the radio station of anti-government UNITA rebels, and attacked its coverage of the forced relocation of residents of Luanda's inner-city Boavista neighbourhood.

Several journalists have encountered interference by authorities while trying to cover the government's forced relocation of some 13,000 families from Boavista, reports CPJ. In one incident on 13 July, police prevented journalist and human-rights activist Rafael Marques and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) journalist Justin Pearce from photographing and interviewing residents relocated to a camp in Viana, about 40 km from Luanda. Marques was later taken into custody, interrogated and accused of "agitating" in the camp, before being released after about one hour, says CPJ. According to Pearce's report for the BBC, the government says Boavista is unsafe for habitation, but it appears to have been earmarked for commercial development.

Meanwhile, Gilberto Neto, a reporter for the independent newspaper "Folha 8", was arrested on July 7 for travelling to Malange in Northern Angola, reports MISA. His apparent crime was that he travelled to Malange as a journalist without the authorisation of local governor Flavio Fernandes, says MISA. CJFE calls the incident "a direct attempt by state authorities to limit the autonomy of the press."

For more information, see www.misanet.org, www.rsf.fr and www.cpj.org.