FXI Update -- January / February 1996
Freedom of Expression Diary - January February 1996
31 DECEMBER 1995
The office of the magazine division of the Independent Communications Network
Limited in Lagos, Nigeria, is torched by arsonists using a petrol bomb. The company
publishes The News , Tempo and Tempo Football . It is the third attack on
independent media in Nigeria in the past two weeks. The News and Tempo are
both known for their criticism of the military government.
JANUARY 1, 1996
Nigerian security agents attempt to seize the latest issue of Tell magazine
but come away empty handed following the foresight of Tell's management. Instead
of using its usual printing press, Tell secures an alternate press and is able
to get the publication on newsstands. However, reports from Nigeria say authorities
are confiscating the publication from vendors in Lagos.
JANUARY 2
Police in the Ivory Coast seize copies of the opposition daily La Voie as
it goes on sale in the streets. Earlier, a court banned the newspaper for defamation.
However, defence lawyers justify La Voie 's appearance on the streets on the
grounds that neither the newspaper nor its printer have been served a formal
court order.
JANUARY 3
Nigerian human rights activist, Sylvester Odion-Akhaine, narrowly escapes death
when unidentified people push him off a moving truck soon after being freed from
jail. Odio-Akhaine, the secretary-general of the Campaign for Open Democracy,
boards the truck in Kebbi, capital of the north-western Kebbi state, after a
year in prison. He is on his way to the former capital Lagos. He says after he
was pushed from the truck the vehicle reversed and its occupants, who pretended
not to know what had happened to him, tried to convince him to get on board,
but he refused. Odion-Akhaine, suffers serious wounds to his legs and arms.
JANUARY 4
The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) releases a draft copy of the Public
Services Broadcasting Bill. The Bill aims to establish standards by which public
broadcasters must comply. It seeks to ensure that public broadcasting is independent
from government influence. It prescribes requirements for the appointment, qualification
and conduct of members who sit on boards governing public broadcasting, and imposes
certain obligations on them. A revised copy of the draft bill is expected to
be finalised in the next session of Parliament.
Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda claims that the Zambian government
is attempting to silence him by threatening to prosecute him for alleged human
rights abuses during his 27-year rule of Zambia. Kaunda says he has received
a message from Defence Minister Ben Mwila ordering him to "stop being a loud mouth" or
face prosecution. Kaunda maintains that the threat is aimed at silencing him
and at curtailing his campaign for presidential elections scheduled before November
this year.
A correspondent for the Financial Times of London is arrested by agents of
Nigeria's State Security Service. Paul Adams is detained in Bori, the major town
southeast of Nigeria's Ogoniland. He is covering local protests against pollution
by oil firms and local demands for a greater share in oil revenues.
In the Comoros, the director of the government daily El Watwan , Youssouf
Moussa, is arrested on charges of attacking a "judicial institution". Moussa's
arrest follows an article in the newspaper on two corruption cases involving
judges.
JANUARY 8
Two reporters covering skirmishes between West African Peacekeeping Forces
(ECOMOG) and warring factions of the United Liberation Movement (ULIMO-J) in
Liberia, are attacked on the instructions of a Liberian government official.
D. Sompon Weah and Peewee S. Fomoku, both working for The News , are attacked
by the personal body guards of the executive director of the Liberian Refugees
Repatriation and Resettlement Commission, Mrs Weade Kobbah Wreh, after she orders
her bodyguards to beat the reporters.
JANUARY 9
In Liberia, James Seitua, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Observer , is arrested
and remanded in custody in the capital, Monrovia. His arrest follows a meeting
with the Director of the National Police. Although no official reason is given
for the arrest, it appears to be linked to the publication on December 29 of
an article that alluded to alleged links between rebels in Sierra Leone and the
main Liberian faction, the National Patriotic Front.
In Algeria, Mohamed Mekati, a correspondent for the government-controlled El
Moudjahid newspaper is seriously wounded in an attack by unidentified gunmen.
Mekati is ambushed near his home in a suburb of Algiers as he is returning from
work.
The group chief executive of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC),
Zwelakhe Sisulu, announces that Durban-based reporter Carol Lane will continue
to work for the corporation. Lane was put on leave by the corporation last month
after she was named as a witness in the trial of former Defence Force head Magnus
Malan and his co-accused on murder charges related to a 1987 massacre at KwaMakutha.
Lane was apparently a police reservist at the time. In his statement, Sisulu
says there is no evidence that Lane was a police informer.
JANUARY 10
The SABC announces that it is to cut Christian broadcasts by 25 percent. The
current time of 425 minutes allotted to religious broadcasting on the SABC each
week remains unchanged.
The acting managing director of Liberia's Daily Observer , Stanton Peabody,
attempts to intervene on behalf of his colleague, James Seitua, who was arrested
the previous day. However, Peabody is arrested soon after being called into
the office of the Director of National Police, where he is supposed to have a
meeting. Peabody is accompanied by the President and the Assistant Secretary
General of the Press Union of Liberia. He is not charged.
In Algeria, Mohamed Mekati, a reporter for El Moudjahid , dies of wounds sustained
during an attack by unidentified gunmen the previous day.
JANUARY 11
Liberian journalist James Seitua is released on bail of $350 US. He is charged
with "criminal malevolence". Seitua's colleague, Stanton Peabody, who was arrested
a day later, remains in jail. Still in Liberia, police storm the offices of
the independent Inquirer newspaper demanding the arrest of production manager
Jacob Doe. Doe manages to escape arrest. The attempted arrest stems from a
front-page article in the latest edition of the paper titled, "Jungle Justice
at Police Station.". The article concerns the arrest of James Seitua and Stanton
Peabody.
In Nigeria, Paul Adams, a correspondent for the Financial Times of London
is released after being detained for seven days. Adams was arrested in Ogoniland
while covering local protests against pollution by oil firms and local demands
for a greater share in oil revenues. He returns to Lagos.
In the Ivory Coast, Freedom Neruda, deputy editor of the daily La Voie is
sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fined $12 000 US. He was charged with
"offences against the head of state" after an article in his newspaper suggested
that Ivory Coast President Henri Konan Bedie had brought Ivorian soccer team
ASEC bad luck when he attended the African Champions Cup final.
JANUARY 12
Stanton Peabody is released on bail of $400 US in the Liberian capital, Monrovia.
Peabody, along with his colleague at the Daily Observer newspaper will appear
in court again on January 16. They will be tried separately for "criminal malevolence".
Immediately after the court orders Peabody's release, Police Director Joseph
Tate orders seven police officers to re-arrest him in the courthouse. However,
the presiding announces that any re-arrest will place Tate in contempt of court.
In Zimbabwe, police seize the negatives of the film Flame apparently on suspicion
that they may contain "subversive information and pornographic scenes". The film,
scheduled to be released in May this year, is based on Zimbabwe's liberation war.
In December, the Zimbabwe War Veterans' Association called for the film to be
banned because it claimed the film portrayed freedom fighters in a "bad light".
JANUARY 16
The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) raises fears that the planned
multi-million rand relaunch of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)
on February 4 may be stopped. The IBA announces that public hearings are required
before a decision can be made on whether or not to approve the corporation's application
for an amended licence.
JANUARY 17
The SABC alters its planned programme format in a swift move to prevent the
legal stopping of its multi-million rand relaunch scheduled for next month.
The IBA informed the SABC earlier that it had to apply for a new licence because
of language reshuffling on the three channels it planned to relaunch. In response,
the SABC says it will go ahead with the relaunch but only with a few changes
to prevent transgressions of its existing licence.
A case of "criminal malevolence" against the acting managing director of Liberia's
Daily Observer , Stanton Peabody, is dismissed in the criminal court in Monrovia,
but Peabody is re-
arrested immediately after leaving the court room. He is charged again with
"criminal malevolence" and is released on bail of $400 US.
JANUARY 18
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communication, Saki
Macozoma, announces that nominations for prospective members of the new SABC
board are open. A new board must be chosen by May this year, when the current
board's mandate expires.
JANUARY 20
Police in Zimbabwe hand back to the producers the negatives of the film Flame ,
which were seized earlier this month.
JANUARY 22
At the Constitutional Assembly (C.A.) in Cape Town, the Democratic Party (DP)
and the National Party (NP) oppose the insertion of a clause in the final constitution
specifically aimed at limiting hate speech. They are opposed by the African
National Congress (ANC). The DP argues that a zone of immunisation must not
be created and that government can pass ordinary legislation against hate speech.
The NP echoes the DP's sentiments, but the ANC argues that a clause limiting
hate speech is necessary in view of the country's history. The debate takes place
at the first working meeting for the year of the C.A.'s deadlock-breaking sub-committee.
The task of this sub-committee is to go through the draft constitution clause
by clause.
JANUARY 24
The Ministry of Information for the Island of Zanzibar announces a ban on the
privately-owned Kiswahili newspaper Majira . The Ministry accuses the newspaper
of publishing "seditious" and "malicious" materials against the ruling party, citing
three articles which questioned Tanzanian President Salmin Amour's political conduct
after the October 1995 elections.
JANUARY 25
The government daily in the Comoros, El Watwan , is banned by order of the
public prosecutor. The order does not specify the duration of the ban. The
action follows a series of articles in the newspaper implicating judicial officials
in corruption scandals.
JANUARY 26
The Ministry of Information in Zanzibar bans a freelance journalist Salim Said
Salim from writing on the island. Salim is a regular contributor of feature
articles to Majira newspaper and writes mainly on the current political situation
on the islands. Earlier this month, Majira , was also banned by the ministry.
JANUARY 28
The Zimbabwean Minister of Information orders the suspension of the Cable News
Network (CNN) broadcasts on Zimbabwe's state television service. The ban follows
CNN's broadcast of a critical report on Zimbabwe's politics.
JANUARY 31
The Independent Broadcasting Authority announces that it is to conduct a hearing
next month into alleged contraventions of licence conditions by Cani FM , a
community radio based in Sandton, near Johannesburg. Cani is alleged to have
contravened section 14 of its licence conditions by failing to provide sufficient
community programming which serves the interests of the Sandton community.