Threatened from everywhere

Concerns about restrictions on press freedom in Africa have surfaced again, this time during a two-day conference held in Kenya that attracted over 100 media representatives from across the continent. The Aug. 8-9 gathering took place in the capital, Nairobi. It was organized in part by the United Nations-affiliated University for Peace. "The media is threatened from everywhere by draconian laws passed by parliament, threats from the executive and threats from the judiciary, which locks up journalists for doing nothing. This is actually judicial terrorism," Wilfred Kiboro, chief executive officer of the Nation Media Group, told the meeting. The group is one of Kenya's largest media organizations. The situation in Zimbabwe received particular attention. A controversial law passed in 2002, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), requires all journalists and media outlets in the Southern African country to register with a government-controlled Media and Information Commission. Failure to do so can earn reporters jail terms of up to two years. "Since its introduction in 2002, AIPPA has been used to harass dozens of journalists and to shutter newspapers, including the Daily News, which was Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper," notes the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in a survey titled "Attacks on the Press in 2005." Another constraint comes in the form of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, signed into law last year, which makes it an offense to publish information that proves to be false–and which is deemed to promote public disorder in Zimbabwe. The penalty for contravening this act is a heavy fine, imprisonment of up to 20 years, or both. The Criminal Law Act also penalizes statements about the presidency that are viewed as abusive and indecent. Harsh legislation, combined with a state monopoly on broadcasting, has deprived many Zimbabweans of any independent analysis of events in their country. "The country has gone back to re-regulating the media to curtail freedom of expression and freedom of the press," observed Fackson Banda, chair of the media and democracy department at Rhodes University in South Africa, at the Nairobi conference. In many instances, independent voices have not only been silenced; persecution has also forced them abroad. "Attacks on the Press in 2005 states that the... CPJ's Elisabeth Witchel found that at least 90 Zimbabwean journalists, including many of the nation's most prominent reporters, now live in exile in South Africa, other African nations, the United Kingdom, and the United States, making it one of the largest groups of exiled journalists in the world." Delegates to the conference heard that reporters elsewhere in Africa are also feeling the heavy hand of government intervention. "Countries are re-regulating instead of deregulating the media, and as such press freedom is under fire," said Banda. This can have dire consequences for the political and economic health of states. "There are lots of risks if governments take to regulating the media too much. There is bound to be lots of mismanagement [and] bad governance where corruption is never revealed. A lot of bad practices can happen without control when the media is silenced," said Pär Granstedt, a member of European Parliamentarians for Africa. "Transparency is very important in government dealings, and it can only be overseen if the media is free. This is where politicians and the media have to sit together, and ensure that laws that enhance freedom of the media are in place." For Mary Karooro Okurut, a member of parliament in Uganda, such negotiations would best be pursued through having media organizations join forces–to press all African countries to pass standard legislation guaranteeing press freedom. "We need one umbrella body on the continent that would lobby and have this matter taken to the African Union, so that similar legislation about the press is adopted all across [the continent. It's] not for each country to take its own stand," she said. "If Africa has to develop, we need a free media–not in some countries, but in all countries in Africa." Okurut's suggestion seems feasible to Desmond Orjiako, the Great Lakes region communication adviser for the 53-member African Union (AU). "If the continental media pressure group is able to present a formidable case to the AU Heads of State Summit or the Council of Ministers, then it is possible that the mandate of a free press may be given across Africa," he said. The council is made up of foreign affairs ministers of AU states; it takes decisions on various issues and helps prepare for the annual summit where the AU Assembly, the highest decision-making body of the union, convenes. But, continent-wide legislation for press freedom is likely to be a tough sell in certain states–as the CPJ's recent list of the "10 Most Censored Countries" indicates. Three African nations–Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Eritrea–feature on the list, issued May 2. While there are a small number of privately-owned newspapers in Equatorial Guinea, says the CPJ, these seldom publish because of budgetary and political constraints. "State-run Radio Malabo broadcasts songs warning citizens that they will be crushed if they speak against the regime. During parliamentary elections in 2004, state media called opposition activists 'enemies' of the state," notes the CPJ. (Malabo is the capital of Equatorial Guinea.) "State radio has described Obiang as 'the country's God' who has all power over men and things," it adds, in reference to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Libyan media are termed "the most tightly controlled in the Arab world," with the CPJ noting further that last year's unsolved murder of journalist Dayf al-Ghazal al-Shuhaibi "has sent an unmistakable message to would-be critics." According to the committee, Eritrea has no privately-owned media whatsoever–making it unique amongst the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Some 15 journalists have been imprisoned in this East African state for the past five years.