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Alert

Radio journalist assaulted, media censored

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has condemned renewed threats to press freedom in Uganda. A radio journalist was attacked on 7 December 2003 while covering an opposition meeting and a ban was recently announced on reporting the assets of leading government figures.

"The assets of political leaders are a matter of public interest, on which the press should be free to report. The attack on the journalist was almost certainly carried out by ruling party activists," RSF said. "We deplore this move by the Ugandan government, which must adopt measures to ensure greater press freedom and to protect journalists," the organisation added.

On 7 December, Hadija Nakitende, a reporter for CBS radio and vice-president of the Association of Ugandan Journalists, was attacked in a Kampala hotel while covering a meeting of the Young Ugandan Democrats (YUD), the youth wing of the opposition Democratic Party (DP). Some 15 people suspected of being members of the ruling party burst in and beat up Nakitende and other people at the scene. They also destroyed a camera belonging to WBS, a commercial television station.

In addition, on 10 November, the attorney general announced that the news media could no longer publish the declarations of assets and liabilities made by the country's political leaders. He made the announcement a few days after two leading dailies published details of the assets of several ministers and presidential advisers. The newspapers had obtained the documents from the inspector general of government, with whom leading officials have to file their declarations. The newspaper reports prompted a formal protest by the vice-president, who said newspapers should not be allowed to publish such information.