Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009africa: somaliaprotection amid the violence, so most kept away and relied on press statementsissued by the warring parties,” Omoyele said.Conditions in the Niger Delta improved slightly in June after the governmentgranted amnesty to some of the local militants, allowing more firsthand coverage,several journalists told CPJ. But security forces continued to harass and intimidatereporters perceived as being critical, leading to ongoing self-censorship, they said.In November, security forces detained three journalists for two days on charges of“false publication” in their coverage of a conflict between Port Harcourt residentsand soldiers, local journalists told CPJ. Developments in the region have vast localrepercussions because of environmental and health degradation caused by oilproduction. The region also has significant international impact given the extentof the reserves there. Nigeria is Africa’s leading oil producer.Internet penetration was estimated at just 7 percent in 2009, according toInternet World Statistics, a market research company, but online publicationsstarted to break stories that influenced traditional media. Shu’aibu Usman, nationalsecretary of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, told CPJ that newspaperswere now republishing or following up on stories that first appeared online. Someprint editors faced government scrutiny about those stories. Police in the northernKano state questioned Tukur Mamu, editor of the private weekly Desert Herald,in July after he reprinted a story from the online Sahara Reporters about anunsolved murder, the journalist told CPJ. Mamu was released the next day. Hewas detained again in October after the paper published its own article claimingthe president’s wife had assumed oversight of some government constructioncontracts, he said. On both occasions, Mamu noted, agents interrogated himabout his relationship with the online Sahara Reporters.Some journalists blamed media owners for allowing political pressure tounduly influence content. Usman, the journalist union secretary, said ownershipis largely in the hands of “politicians or businessmen who allow their personalconcerns to dominate their publications.” In October, President Umaru Yar’Aduathreatened to revoke the license of Africa Independent Television, citing “threatsto national security” that apparently stemmed from the station’s political talkshow, “Focus Nigeria,” according to local news reports. The station soon replacedthe show’s popular moderator, Gbenga Arulegba, who was known for his provocativestyle. AIT Chairman Raymond Dokpesi said government pressure hadnothing to do with the move.But one newspaper dealt Yar’Adua a setback in court. In June, the Court ofAppeal ruled the president could not pursue a defamation complaint againstthe private daily Leadership until he left office, according to news reports. Thecomplaint stemmed from a November 2008 report in Leadership saying that thepresident had been ill, Leadership Executive Director Aniebo Nwamu said.SOMALIASomalia was among the world’s deadliest countries in 2009,surpassing violent hot spots such as Iraq and Pakistan. As conflict continuedbetween the weak Transitional Federal Government and multiple insurgentgroups, nine journalists were killed in direct connection to their work, seven ofthem in the volatile capital, Mogadishu. An exodus of local journalists continuedthroughout the year, and few international journalists dared travel into the countryfor firsthand reporting, according to CPJ research. As a result, the amount andquality of news coverage of Somalia’s political and humanitarian crisis sufferedgreatly, CPJ found.Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, considered a moderate Islamic politician, waselected president in January after peace talks in Djibouti, but the vote did little tofoster peace. The two main insurgent groups, Al-Shabaab and Hisbul Islam, accusedSharif of being a puppet of Western governments. Al-Qaeda leader Osamabin Laden denounced the new president in a recorded statement in March andurged militant groups to topple him, according to news reports. Al-Shabaab,which has reported links toAl-Qaeda, took control ofmost of southern Somalia byMay, including areas within amile of the presidential palacein Mogadishu.Twenty-one journalistswere killed in Somalia between2005 and 2009, butonly about half died in crossfireduring combat situations.The others were targeted byassassins and murdered. Ast o p developments»»Al-Shabaab terrorizes media throughviolence, threats, censorship.»»Many local journalists flee into exile,leaving a void in coverage.9key statisticJournalists killed in direct relation totheir work in 2009.insurgents drew ever closer to the capital in 2009, conditions for journalists therecontinued to deteriorate, particularly in the volatile Bakara Market district wheremajor media houses Radio Shabelle and HornAfrik radio were based. “They willkill a journalist simply for being a journalist,” said Farhan Ali, who served as ministerof information during a portion of 2009, part of an ever-changing cast offederal government officials.The press faced grave dangers from multiple sources. On the first day of2009, Shabelle reporter Hassan Mayow was shot twice in the head by suspectedgovernment soldiers in Afgoye, a town roughly 25 kilometers (15 miles) west ofMogadishu. According to local journalists who witnessed the murder and spoke3 83 9