18 June 2003
ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS MOUNTING
As civil conflicts continue to rage in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Liberia, IFEX members are reporting increased attacks on journalists in recent weeks. In Liberia's capital, Monrovia, journalists and human rights activists in Monrovia have suffered the worst reprisals in what appear to be targeted and systematic attacks on residents caught up in the conflict, report the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).
MFWA says more than 25 journalists have been displaced by the fighting, while at least four others have been victims of physical attacks, threats and abductions. They include independent journalist Lyndon Ponnie, who narrowly escaped death when armed men attacked his home on 12 June and robbed him of his possessions. The whereabouts of his family are unknown.
Meanwhile, the homes of journalists Philip Moore, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Independent," Charles Asumana of the "Inquirer," and Kaba Williams were looted and set ablaze, MFWA reports.
Read MISA and MFWA's joint alert: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/50880/
In response to the attacks in Liberia, the West African Journalists Association (WAJA) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have called on the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) to support an "effective, integrated legal framework" protecting freedom of expression, journalists' safety and media ethics. Earlier this month, WAJA attended ECOWAS' meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, and took part in discussions over the media's role in the regional body.
In the DRC, Journaliste en danger (JED) has been issuing frequent alerts on free-expression violations, including the closing of a popular radio station run in Kinshasa.
On 10 June, Congolese police ransacked Message de vie Radiotelevision's (RTMV) offices and studios, assaulting radio station owner Pastor Fernando Kutino and several journalists, JED reports. Equipment was also confiscated. Since it began broadcasting a month ago, RTMV has become the most popular radio station in Kinshasa, JED says.
It broadcasts live meetings held by Kutino's "Sauvons le Congo" religious movement, which often includes denouncements of the country's serious human rights violations and the "inexplicable wealth of the country's leaders."
JED and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have raised concerns over other violations, including the brutal assault on Dieudonné Muzaliwa Bulambo by members of the Congolese Rally for Democracy rebel group on 2 May. Bulambo, a journalist for Congolese National Radio-Television, was left for dead and later taken to the hospital, where he is in critical condition, CPJ and JED report.
Visit these links for more information:
- MFWA: http://www.mediafoundationwa.org/english/about.html
- MISA: http://www.misa.org/
- IFJ/WAJA: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=1675&Language=EN
- Alerts and Reports on DRC: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/35/
- Alerts and Reports on Liberia: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/58/
RSS