Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009africa: analysisjail; and the government continued to show little interest in solving the 2004 murderof editor Deyda Hydara. Such tactics have prompted at least 13 journalistsNO government has decimatedthe press corps as thoroughlyas that of Eritrea.to flee since 2007, accordingto the Gambia Press Union.That number becomes eyeopeningwhen one considersthat the Gambia has justtwo independent newspapers and a population of 1.7 million. The journalistswho remain often censor their work or simply avoid sensitive topics.“There is no incentive for in-depth reporting or investigative journalism anymoreas it can land one in trouble with authorities,” said Musa Saidykhan, a Gambianjournalist who fled after being tortured by state security agents in 2008.Government harassment has also played a role in Rwanda, where at least10 independent journalists have fled. Half of those journalists had contributedreporting to foreign media outlets, CPJ research shows. Robert Mukombozi, aRwandan whose work as a correspondent for the Ugandan daily The Monitorhad offended authorities, was ordered out of the country in 2009 on fabricatedcharges that he lacked citizenship. Lucie Umukundwa, a correspondent for theU.S. government-funded Voice of America, left in 2006 after unidentified menattacked her brother in reprisal for her reporting.“I was used to arrests and intimidations,” Umukundwa told CPJ, “but thiswas the first time my family was attacked.”Only two independent weeklies remain in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. The directorof one of those papers, Charles Kabonero, said the loss of his colleagues hasnot only lowered professional standards, it has left remaining journalists feelingisolated and less interested in pursuing independent stances. The private weeklyRushashya, which had been known as a critical news source, publicly announcedin 2009 that it would take a more pro-government editorial stance.Many exiled African journalists face great challenges and continuing risk.The Union of Exiled Somali Journalists said about half of its members eke outa precarious existence on the dangerous streets of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Mostfled so precipitously that they took few belongings or identification papers. Theexile union, along with the National Union of Somali Journalists, both said theyhad received reports that Somali exiles have faced arbitrary harassment and detentionat the hands of Kenyan police.The Rwandan Mukombozi told CPJ that members of his family had been assaultedtwice in Kigali after he was forced into exile. “All that psychological pressuremore than triples when such incidents happen,” he said by e-mail, “and therestricted communication between the exiled journalist and his/her family makesthe harm on both sides enormous.”Gambian journalists seeking refuge typically move to Dakar, Senegal, butthey are rarely at ease because of the suspected presence of Gambian securityagents, said Demba Jawo, former head of the Gambian Press Union. “Sometimesexiled Gambian journalists feel compelled to move periodically to avoid detectionfrom these security agents,” he said.Even those in safe circumstances face enormous professional challenges. Atleast 48 Zimbabwean journalists have been forced into exile since 2000, most ofthem in the early half of the decade during sustained harassment by PresidentRobert Mugabe’s government, according to CPJ research. In interviews with CPJ,many of these Zimbabwean journalists have said that it took years for them tore-establish themselves professionally and secure sound economic footings fortheir families. Many had to abandon journalism as a career.Yet some who revived their careers also created a vibrant diaspora newsmedia. Gerry Jackson, an exiled Zimbabwean journalist, launched the LondonbasedSW Radio in 2001. The station broadcasts programming into Zimbabwein English and in the Shona and Ndebelelanguages. Wilf Mbanga, another exile,started The Zimbabwean newspaper in2005. Based in his new home in England,Mbanga produces a weekly that circulatesin the United Kingdom, South Africa—and Zimbabwe. Abel Mutasakani, wholeft for South Africa in 2004, joined with other colleagues to start the Web publicationZimOnline.Ethiopian and Eritrean exiles have similarly launched Web sites, typicallyfocusing on events back home. While limited in what they can report firsthand,these sites receive and report leaked documents, interview disaffected governmentsources, and offer critical political commentary.The irony that exiled journalists are getting independent news and views intotheir native countries is not lost on people such as the Zimbabwean Geoff Hill.“Since nationalizing the press in 1981, Mugabe has done his best to control theflow of information, but now there are so many leaks in the bucket, it is more likea watering can,” said Hill, himself an exiled journalist who still reports on thecountry. “Much of the credit for this must go to the hard breed of Zimbabweanjournalists—both at home and in exile—who refuse to surrender.”Tom Rhodes is CPJ’s Africa program coordinator.Exiled Zimbabweanshave created vibrantdiaspora media.1 8 1 9