The perils of truth-telling
Tuesday, 18 October @ 00:00:00
Category: Africa
Topic: Opinion and debate
At the launch of The African Editors' Forum in Johannesburg last weekend,
editors put the harassment of journalists at the top of their agenda,
writes Jovial Rantao in The Star.


The Star's deputy editor Jovial Rantao writes in the paper:

 The question-and-answer session came immediately after President Thabo
Mbeki had addressed delegates to the launch congress of The All Africa
Editors' Forum on Saturday.

In his keynote address, Mbeki said things that would have been music to
many editors' ears. He spoke at length about how important and powerful
the media, driven by modern technology, had become.

Mbeki also gave concrete examples of the impact the media had on
governments and politics around the world.

He gave an example of how the South African government prepared its
response to the South Asian earthquake, which killed more than 50 000
people, based on media reports, not on an official report from the
diplomatic representative of an affected country.

The president also spoke about the African Union and press freedom on the
continent, emphasising that the truth - whether good or bad - had to be
told. Mbeki emphasised that the African media had a crucial role to play
in getting Africans to understand one another better.

When question time came, the issue of press freedom took centre stage.
Right there in the main hall at the Esselen Park Conference Centre, Mbeki
came face to face with the horrors that editors in some African countries
face.

Media freedom was an issue that TAEF chairperson Mathatha Tsedu had
touched upon in his welcoming address.

But it was the delegates from Gambia and Togo who drove the point home.

Uneasy silence filled the hall when the Gambian delegate made a heartfelt
plea to Mbeki to speak to President Yahya A J J Jammeh about the problems
experienced by the independent media in Gambia.

"Our offices have been burnt down, our press has been bombed and one of
our editors was shot, and there have been no police investigations on any
of these three cases," he said.

The delegate said editors and journalists in his country stopped work at 7
o'clock every night because working late would place them at risk of
attack from unknown forces, suspected of being government agents.

The Gambian delegate also spoke about the death of journalist Deyda Hydara
and described a climate of fear among the independent press, which had
intensified since his murder in December 2004.

The death of Hydara on December 16 in Banjul, the Gambian capital, sparked
anger among journalists around the world. The South African National
Editors' Forum, the International Freedom of Expression eXchange, the
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Reporters Without Borders and the
Committee for the Protection of Journalists are among organisations that
have deplored the killing and even more the fact that no investigation of
the murder took place.

Hydara was shot dead two days after the Gambian National Assembly passed
two controversial media laws that he and other local independent
journalists had strongly opposed.

He was highly critical of the government's moves to amend laws affecting
the media. The amended criminal code, secretly signed into law by
President Jammeh immediately after Hydara's killing, provides mandatory
jail sentences for journalists convicted of defamation or publishing false
information.

The amended Newspaper Act requires all media outlets to pay a prohibitive
registration, equivalent to R107 000.

Among other attacks on Gambian journalists brought to the delegates'
attention are:


Journalist Ebrima Sillah's house in Jamburu was set on fire on the morning
of August 15 2004. Sillah, who was at home, narrowly escaped injury.
Equipment supplied by the BBC, including a new laptop computer, was
destroyed.

The attack took place less than a month after Jammeh had warned
"opposition journalists" that they would "pay a high price" if they
misquoted him, according to MFWA. Jammeh's speech was part of celebrations
marking the 10th year of his presidency.


On August 7 last year, an anonymous letter was sent to Gambia Press Union
president Demba Jawo, threatening to "teach one of your journalists a very
good lesson" for reporting critically about Jammeh's policies.

The privately owned biweekly newspaper The Independent has been targeted
twice in the past year, says the Committee for the Protection of
Journalists.

In October 2003 its offices in Banjul were set ablaze. Six months later,
arsonists set fire to the paper's printing press in the town of Kanifing.
Three employees were injured in that attack.

Mbeki, obviously touched by this account, asked the delegate to submit it
to TAEF and promised to raise the matter with his Gambian counterpart.

The Togolese delegate also spoke about fear among journalists and editors
in his country following the attack on Jean-Baptiste Dzilan (also known as
Dimas Dzikodo), managing editor of the opposition weekly Forum de la
Semaine.

Dzilan is fighting for his life in hospital after being abducted and badly
beaten by unidentified individuals on the night of October 9 in the
capital, Lomé.

Dzikodo (31) was on a motorcycle with one of his brothers travelling
towards the northern neighbourhood of Gbonvié at about 10pm local time
when two men on another motorbike intercepted them, knocking his brother
to the ground.

Then two other men on a third motorcycle knocked Dzikodo's bike over and
all four assailants began beating Dzikodo with clubs.
A car with six men aboard then arrived, at which point Dzikodo tried to
escape. But they caught him, sprayed him with an as yet unidentified
liquid from an aerosol can and tried to make him swallow a liquid, which
he managed to spit out.

When local residents responded to his cries for help, his attackers
finally fled, taking his computer's removable hard drive and his cellphone
with them. Dzikodo is now receiving treatment in a clinic.
"Their intention was to eliminate me: they were aiming their blows at my
head," Dzikodo told Reporters Without Borders.

Communications Minister Kokou Tozoun, condemned the attack. Forum de la
Semaine has been very critical of the current government. Dzikodo, who is
also secretary-general of the Organisation of Independent Press Editors,
has received death threats in the past and was detained several times
under the previous government, led by the late General Gnassingbé Eyadéma.

The print media are not alone in the fight against harassment in Togo. On
August 27, the religious television station TV Zion was allowed to resume
its broadcasts after a 15-day suspension.

The suspension came after station director Luc Kodjo Adjaho had
disregarded warnings over threats and curses allegedly made by him against
the managing editors of Forum de la Semaine and Tingo Tingo newspapers.
Adjaho, a former court bailiff who is now a pastor, habitually vilifies
journalists who criticise him.

Electronic media in Togo also say the government has blocked all
telecommunication.

Telephone, Internet and fax communications in Togo have become
increasingly difficult since April, they say, making it virtually
impossible for local and international media to work effectively.
Earlier this year, soldiers beat up Thierry Tchukriel, a French journalist
who was covering the presidential elections for the Autan radio station.

His identity papers, including his press card, were confiscated. Tchukriel
was beaten about the neck and head by four soldiers as he covered the
vote-counting at an electoral office near Lomé market.

In another incident, on April 25, La Paix - a pro-government radio station
in Atakpamé, central Togo - was ransacked and burnt to the ground. The
station, launched in 2002, thus became the latest victim in the tense
post-electoral climate pervading Atakpamé, where police clashed with
anti-government demonstrators.

Mbeki reassured all the editors that the AU would address their problems.
"It should be possible for TAEF to put these matters on the agenda of the
AU," he said, urging West African delegates also to approach the Economic
Community of West Africa States for assistance.

* This article first appeared in The Star on 18 October 2005.



This article comes from journalism.co.za
http://www.journalism.co.za/

The URL for this story is:
http://www.journalism.co.za/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3153




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