God is constantly at work in the cause of human liberation

Below the surface of our awareness, God is constantly at work in the cause of human liberation. Unfortunately we have to look intently to see it though sometimes a dramatic event pushes the divine activities into view.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla, Originally Published on Yahoo news!

In the Gospel of John a man blind from birth is healed by Jesus. He understands that something special has taken place, but it isn’t until folks start to question him that he slowly becomes aware of who the healer was and what the healing means. Gradually, this formerly blind beggar recognizes the source of the power that has changed his life and he becomes an outspoken believer. This puts him into direct conflict with the local authorities who want to deny the healing so as to discount the healer

Struggle for human liberation has exploded across the world and especially the Middle East in recent days, and our contribution is the predictable jets and bombs in support of an armed uprising in “friendly” countries. Yet right next door in some of these so called “friendly” countries, revolutionaries are choosing another way to pursue their dream of democracy. Without mounting an armed force, compatriots of different repressive regimes had persisted in their plea for justice. Without raising a rifle, they held firm in their resolve, rousing and rallying the unstoppable power of their common cause, using means that were entirely consistent with their end – the creation of a nation free of oppression and dominance by the force of violence or the threat thereof. Why do we find it essential to back nation(s) in their decision to ‘perpetuate the cycle of violence’ rather than urge a peaceful revolution as what happened in Egypt? When will we “see” with Gospel eyes that the rules of engagement need to change, and in fact, are changing?

Myriad rape shows collapse of Cameroon society. Corrupt judiciary, administrative bottleneck hinder justice

Rape, which is sometimes called sexual assault, is forced, unwanted sexual intercourse. It’s all about power, not sex and can happen to both men and women of any age. A rapist uses actual force or violence — or the threat of it — to take control over another human being. In some cases rapists use drugs to take away a person's ability to fight back. In effect rape is undoubtedly a crime, whether the person committing it is a stranger, a date, an acquaintance, or a family member.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla Originally Published on Yahoo news!

Make no mistake, if one gets sex from a woman with her consent but without her reasoned and informed opinion of the consequences, it constitutes rape or with her informed opinion without consent it is also rape. Thus, a man can rape his wife if he uses force to get sex when the woman does not want it. In so doing, Rape can attract more severe punishment when it is perpetrated by a ‘man of God’ or someone under whose care the victim is kept

Debates on rape often provoke laughter, and sorrow sometimes in the case of a victim. While women would argue that it is possible for a man to rape his wife, men say it is not possible for someone to steal what belongs to him. On the other hand, some male folks would lament that more women are increasingly using force to get sex from men and that more men are placed at a weaker position in so far as negotiating for sex is concerned. Shockingly, most of victims of rape in Cameroon are below 15 years, and the act is usually committed by persons from all backgrounds including; fathers, ‘men of God’, friends, relatives, bandits, rich or poor as well as in rural and urban settings alike.

But for some reason(s), the seriousness of rape and its damaging consequences are sometimes better understood only after people come across victims or when victims take to the rostrum to tell their awesome stories.

While working as a community organizer in the rural parts of South West Province (Region) in the Republic of Cameroon, I facilitated several workshops including those aimed at educating traditional rulers, women, journalists, civil society actors, young girls and boys and rape victims on the damaging consequences of rape on the society especially if unchecked

In narrating her ordeal in course of one of my workshops, a victim - Missodi, aged 30 tells how two of her brother-in-laws had brutally raped her. That after the death of her husband, she refused to be handed over to her brother-in-law as a wife as custom demands. But little did she know that her refusal to honor tradition only made her a target for rape. On that fateful day, Missodi said she had just lowered her pant to urinate when two of her brother-in-laws jumped on her from behind, put soil into her mouth then raped her.
Namolongo, another victim told of how she was hawking foodstuff at the age of 11, when she was raped. That she had heard the village masqueraders fondly called ‘jujus’ singing and dancing towards her direction. As she hides herself in the shrub to avoid eye contact with the ‘juju’ as tradition demands, one of them rush to her and assaulted. Unfortunately her mother was only interested in the items she was hawking upon hearing the awesome incident. Neille’s story was that of incest perpetrated by her father. In tears she told how her father had repeatedly raped her in the house, in abandoned buildings, in the bathroom and even on the farm. She was just 11 when it all started. It all got to the limelight only after she became pregnant at 16. Before that, she had sought refuge in a local Pentecostal church hoping to find a way to reveal the ordeal. But the ‘men of God’ were no different from her pedophile father, as they too began asking for their own ‘share’. She ran away.
Annabenga, told of how at 8, her mother used to leave her with her 25-year-old cousin to go for business. But one unfortunate day, the cousin brought in pornographic films and asked that they practice what they were seeing. It happened then and several other times.

In a related story a man narrated how he decided to divorce his wife after she was raped by bandits. He claimed the bandits tied him up on a chair at gunpoint while his wife was raped before his own very eyes. However, that the reason to divorce the wife was not due to the rape, but rather that the wife was screaming and enjoying the sexual act from the bandits (something he could not tolerate) instead of crying and shouting. Several other testimonies of forced sex in different circumstances were presented to the participants in course of the workshop

The military in this country are not helping the situation. They would stop at nothing in raping women especially during crises. A case in point was during armed attacks in North West region of Cameroon in March 1997, where hundreds of people, predominantly members of opposition political parties were arrested. “Civilians were beaten, kicked and humiliated and many incidents of rape were reported”, states Amnesty International (AI), in its 1998 annual report. “A special security unit, known as the COMMANDEMENT OPÉRATIONNEL (CO), the Operational Command, was set up to combat street crime in Douala and Yaoundé, the capital. It was reportedly responsible for killing scores of criminal suspects, as well as for carrying out beatings, rapes and other ill-treatment of detainees”, AI stated further in its 2001 annual report

Just like the military, the police and gendarme are noted for raping students when called to quell uprising on campus. Cases of rape on campus had been reported in various universities and school of learning in Cameroon including the university of Buea, Douala, and Yaounde

Different reports hold that rape has risen from 0 percent to affect 5 percent of women in Cameroon, between 1970 and 2010, prompting a nationwide campaign against this monster

And like in one voice participants at this crowd-pulling workshops all stood up to denounce ‘rapists’ and challenged the government of Cameroon to make every efforts to bringing rapists to face justice.
Whatever the case, rape is already a public health problem in Cameroon and constitutes one of the worst forms of violence against women and girls here. The German Technological Research (GTZ) Cameroon, reported 432,000 rape cases from the country’s ten regions recently. Though persons guilty of rape here can be imprisoned for up to 10 years, only 5 percent of perpetrators of this heinous act consider one of the worst degrading act against women were punished1970 and 2010. And the inability to bringing all those involved to face justice is due to high level corruption in the country’s judiciary coupled with administrative bottlenecks among many others issues related to bad governance. These and many other reasons make procedures for getting legal redress here too cumbersome and lengthy, essentially because of the need for preliminary investigations, from the police and hospital to the legal department, before getting to court. And in the course of these lengthy procedures, most victims encounter lots of interventions and negotiations whereby the case is stopped or withdrawn before justice is rendered notes a joint report by GTZ and a local Non-Governmental Organization in Cameroon.

No matter how it happened, rape is frightening and traumatizing. And people who have been raped need care, comfort, and a way to heal.

HIV/AIDS: 30th anniversary of untold human destruction. 25m people killed, 34m more infected, over 14 million orphaned children as war continues

The disease needs no introduction. However, Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome popularly known by its English language acronym (AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus known also by its English language acronym (HIV) This condition according to allacademic.com; progressively reduces the effectiveness of the immune system leaving individuals susceptible to opportunistic infections, and tumors.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

Genetic research indicates that HIV originated in west-central Africa during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century and was first recognized by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1981, and its cause, HIV, identified in the early 1980s

Scientifically proven is a fact that the disease is transmitted through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid, and breast milk. Transmission can involve either anal, vaginal or oralsex, blood transfusion, contaminated hypodermic needles, exchange between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or other exposure to one of the above bodily fluids.

Although there continue to exist a dichotomy between two scientists; American born Robert Gallo, and French born Nobel Prize winner - Luc Montagnier, as to who discovered the AIDS-causing virus, both men are unanimously recognized to have done important work on AIDS.

HIV/AIDS is thirty years old today and counting. I don’t know how old you are. But what I know for sure is that ANNIVERSARIES are times for sober reflection. You would all agree here that thirty years is a long way to go. And it’s now well over thirty years ever since scientists discovered the deadly AIDS disease and by implication thirty years since the battle to eliminate the killer disease started. Therefore the 30-years in the history of this disease call for reflection. Reflection in relation to the number of people infected/affected, killed, fight against the disease, etc, etc.

AIDS is now a pandemic. Logically, yet unfortunately, there seems to be no cure for this deadly disease monster. Since its discovery, HIV/AIDS has infected about 34m people after sending 24m others to their untimely grave. Africa - the continent in which the disease was discovered, and particularly the republic of South Africa, has the world’s largest number of AIDS cases and one of its highest infection rates too. Additionally, over 330,000 children, and 76% of those HIV/AIDS related deaths in the world, occurred in sub-Saharan Africa with over 25 million deaths in southern Africa alone since the epidemic began.

Make no mistake the number of casualties would have been higher were the battle against the disease not taken seriously. The fight against the disease has instills hope in the lives of people in vulnerable countries who were expected to have died of the disease by now.

Today, the death rate is dropping and is expected to drop even more. Attest is the most recent report released in 2009 indicating the disease was able to kill 1.8m people against 2.1m people. Moreover, some 5m lives have already been saved by drug treatment and infections is down by 25% or more from its peak in 33 of the worst-affected countries

Even more hopeful is a recent study which believes “drugs used to treat AIDS may also stop its transmission”. And if that proves true, “the drugs could achieve much of what a vaccine would”, suggests the economic magazine.

Make no mistake; though treatments for AIDS/HIV can slow the course of the disease, there is no known cure or vaccine! Yet, many charlatans including “men of God” and particularly traditional doctors in Africa take advantage of certain situations to deceive the population - insisting they (the charlatans) are capable of treating the disease.

Though antiretroviral treatment reduces both the mortality and the morbidity of HIV infection, the drugs remain expensive and routine access to medication is not available in all countries. Even where they are available some other factors apply including but not limited to administrative bottlenecks, corruption, bad roads, cultural barriers etc..

More disturbing is a fact that people in countries were the disease is causing untold misery are using it for personal gains. In the republic of Cameroon for example, a former minister of Public Heath, and some of his closed collaborators are now awaiting trial for alleged embezzlement of funds (provided by the global fund initiative) associated with the treatment of HIV/AIDS including other communicable diseases. Like the former minister and his collaborators, many leaders of non-governmental organizations with objective of fighting the disease, are feeding fat from funds donated by sympathetic international non for profit interested in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

In the early days scientists were often attacked by activists for being more concerned with trying to prevent the epidemic spreading than treating the affected. Some doctors and particularly those in third world countries for example were helpless in the face of the epidemic. I remember in Cameroon, people diagnosed with HIV, were advised to go home, and return after it had developed into full-blown AIDS. It was then the doctors would start treating opportunistic infections with no hope of bringing the patient back to life. Today, the situation is different as many have had training in relations to handling the disease. Whatever the case, it would be a big relieve to the world if AIDS is defeated

As the battle against HIV/AIDS continues, the United Nations launched the ‘Global Fund’ during one of its first meetings on AIDS. And today, the fund as well as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPAR) created by former US president Georg Bush Jr, are the two main distributors of the life serving drugs – antiretroviral around the world. Last year, the PEPAR, spent almost $7 billion on AIDS and tuberculosis that often accompanies it, and it is responsible for helping half of the 6.6m people now on anti-retroviral drugs.

There exist many “heroes” in the fight against HIV/AIDS besides the Global Fund, and the PEPAR. Among whom is Bill Gates. The billionaire, and co-owner of Microsoft Co, uses his Gates and Melinda foundation to discharge much of his Microsoft fortune to help in this fight. Hence, the foundation has created meaningful partnership with government of worst-affected countries including non for profit in its mission.

Thirty years after, the consequences of HIV/AIDS are myriad! Individuals with a positive HIV diagnosis are at high risk for mental health problems, especially depression and anxiety. Not only is depression likely following a positive diagnosis, living with HIV disease is a constant source of stress due to changes in work status, the experience of acute illnesses, and adherence to complicated medication regimes. HIV disease is also highly stigmatizing, and can result in discrimination and outright ostracism. Individuals often lose their social support systems when they are most needed.

While HIV disease can be managed with medications, there is still likelihood of early death which can result in reckless behavior and higher risk for suicide. Furthermore, HIV medications often involve complicated dosage and food restrictions and can produce severe side effects; these medications are a daily reminder of the reality of the illness and even without side effects can be considered a source of stress. Data from a longitudinal study of HIV clients referred to a program for enhanced substance abuse services are used to examine the mental health consequences of HIV/AIDS and the relationship between mental health problems, social support, substance abuse and treatment adherence.

CJA to confer in Malta in January

The Commonwealth Journalist Association (CJA) is to hold its next international conference – its ninth -- at the Radisson Blu Hotel in St Julian’s, Malta, from January 29 to February 1 next year. With less money to support the conference this time around, journalists from developing nations can apply to have their travel and hotel costs subsidised.

Outrage at the death of a brave man

The CJA joined in protests against the murder of Syed Saleem Shahzad, a Pakistani journalist who was found dead two days after being kidnapped. His body was covered in wounds and he appeared to have been tortured. On June 16, the government set up an inquiry headed by Justice Saqib Nisar. This brought to an end a Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists sit-in.

Many Pakistani journalists have been murdered in recent years, several this year. What made Shahzad’s death stand out was that he was not a poor local journalist trying to make a few rupees out of the violence in Baluchistan and the tribal areas and falling foul of the authorities or their opponents. Nor was he a Sindhi killed for offending some narrow-minded local landlord who thought himself above the law.

He was an Islamabad-based journalist seeking to explain and inquire into the struggle between government and Taliban, for readers not just in Pakistan but throughout the world. A few days before he died, he wrote an article for the Asia Times which alleged that junior naval officers were involved in the Taliban raid on a Karachi naval base that killed 12 navy men and destroyed two US-made surveillance planes. He was on his way to a TV interview about this article when he was kidnapped.

James Lamont wrote in the Financial Times of June 14: “Syed Saleem Shahzad courted controversy by writing that Taliban and al-Qaeda militants had taken a strategic decision to destabilise the army and had deeply infiltrated its ranks. He was murdered.”

An Italian editor for whom Shahzad wrote remarked: “We will never forget his illuminating analyses of social and cultural realities so different from our own. No one will ever kill our memories of an intrepid and brave colleague.”

Since Shahzad’s death, the death toll has risen further.

Asfandyar Abid Naveed, a 35-year-old reporter for the daily Akhvbar-e-Khyber, died in two blasts which blew up a supermarket in the military cantonment area of Peshawar close to The News International’s office on June 11. They killed 40 people. Police believe the first small bomb, in a restaurant, was intended to attract police and journalists. Then a motorcyclist detonated a suicide vest containing ball bearings and 12 kilogrammes of explosive. Apart from Naveed, 28-year-old Shafiullah, who had joined The News as a trainee only a week earlier, was fatally injured. Eight other journalists were hurt

Shafiullah hailed from a village in embattled North Waziristan and had just completed his master’s degree. He died on June 17. The Taliban denied they were responsible.

Hitherto, Naveed had lived a charmed life. He escaped with minor injuries from a suicide bombing in Peshawar Press Club last December. Then he had a leg broken by a speeding bus, an accident which put him in hospital several weeks and cost him his job. He joined Akhbar-e-Khyber only recently.

Crime-busting journalist murdered in Mumbai

CJA India condemned the murder in June of Jyotendra Dey, who specialised in exposing the activities of Mumbai’s criminals. In May he reported on illicit trade in diesel fuel, said to be worth over two billion dollars a year. He was shot dead in broad daylight on June 11 by four motorcyclists as he drove his own motorcycle home. India is 13^th in the ‘impunity index’ drawn up by an international media watchdog. It lists countries where the murderers of five or more journalists since 2001 have yet to be identified.

Dey’s colleagues have demanded that the inquiry into his death be taken from the Mumbai police and transferred to Maharashtra state’s Central Bureau of Investigation. Maharashtra’s chief minister has refused this.

Repression of Uganda media takes new turn

Democracy without freedom of expression and media is characteristic of many failed or failing states in Africa. Low priority given to media freedom disconnects the media from good governance and development. Yet in developed nations a vibrant and widely-read press encourages citizens to take part in government and to express their views about things that affect them. Fragile states need to promote a free press for their own good. But, in practice, the media are held under siege.

In Uganda, journalists have become targets of state security operatives. The BBC, the Daily Monitor and other media are being branded as enemies of Uganda. One rights body puts the number of journalists harassed or intimidated by security agents at 55 over six months. Forty-three face charges including sedition and criminal libel.

Ten journalists were reportedly beaten when covering the May 12 return of opposition leader Kizza Besigye from Kenya [where he had gone for treatment of injuries he received when a demonstration was violently dispersed in Kampala last month.]. On May 18 journalists were beaten by security agents at a wetland. It had been encroached by 500 Uganda Peoples Defense Force veterans, who claimed President Museveni authorised them to occupy it.

Handling journalists with an iron fist is a strange way to attempt to tame the media in a civilised society. It differs from methods previously used. These were characterised by switching on and off of air waves, raiding media establishments, arresting journalists and manoeuvring those branded as critical of the state out of their jobs.

Most party manifestos for presidential and parliamentary elections have been silent on media freedom even though it is well provided for in the constitution. However, the ruling National Resistance Movement, in its manifesto Prosperity for All sounded media-friendly. Under the heading Democracy and Good Governance, it assured Ugandans about the freedom of the media. It will be unfortunate if this was intended to hoodwink people.

In reality, media freedom has suffered a setback, as described above, since the Movement government began its fourth term of office.

Critics of the media argue that the press and radio are part of their own problems. They argue that at election times, when citizens are putting issues to the government, the media are silent on these issues, which is a lost opportunity.

NEWS FROM THE FRONT LINE

The home of New Vision journalist, Goodluck Musininguzi was set on fire on May 10 by arsonists who used a sponge dipped in petrol. Musinguzi told the Human Rights Network for Journalists, Uganda: “We were awakened by the fire, which started near my bedroom window, and by a barking dog. My wife, three daughters and I took refuge in the sitting room.”

When opposition leader Besigye returned to Uganda, police used live ammunition as well as teargas to disperse his supporters. Police in June questioned two talk-show hosts in June after Dr Besigye featured on their programmes.

The background to all this is that price rises have provoked social unrest expressed in so-called walk-to-work demonstrations. These led to some violence but were even more violently put down. President Museveni, once renowned as a sound-money man, has turned spendthrift, buying fighter aircraft and promoting high population growth, thereby encouraging the inflation of prices. Uganda has the highest inflation rate in East Africa. Radio talk is a popular channel for expressing dissent. Most radio stations in Uganda are privately owned, some of them by President Museveni’s pet aversion, the King of Buganda

Rwanda forms a CJA branch

The international CJA ran a course in Rwanda in January, after which a CJA branch was formed there. Its leader, Collin Haba editor of the New Times, e-mailed to CJA UK: “We are excited to be part of CJA”. Chris Cobb of CJA Canada said the CJA had been working for months to bring Rwandans into the CJA. Information minister Protais Musoni said the Rwandan government would allow its media to become self-regulating

NEWS FROM THE FRONT LINE

Independent journalist Jean Bosco Gasasira, who has fled Rwanda, was sentenced by the supreme court in June in his absence to two-and-a-half years in prison. The charge was that he called for civil disobedience and insulted President Kagame. He has no right of appeal.

Gasasira told Reporters Sans Frontieres that he would not be intimidated by the court’s ruling. “The government wants to mess up my life and stop me from working.” He would risk arrest, he said, if he returned to Rwanda.

Gasasira says he has been threatened many times, beaten up (in 2007), censored and hunted. In recent days, his newspaper’s wevbsite – www.Umuvugizi.com -- was hacked into. A bogus version, probably put together by government supporters, has appeared. According to Gasasira, this allows the government to see who reads it and to post false news.

On the brighter side, the Rwandan cabinet adopted a freedom of information bill on June 1. ARTICLE 10 comments that this is “a clear acknowledgment of the key role freedom of information can play in good governance and transparency.”

Sadly, Asia Today is yesterday

Asia Today, a popular BBC programme with which CJA UK chairman Rita Payne was particularly associated, was broadcast for the last time on June 10.

It lived a charmed life even when Rita was in charge. She had to scrape around for material to fill it. Andrew Roy of the BBC wrote on closure day: “I realise for many this is a sad moment. It [Asia Today] has been a labour of love over 15 years. [It was} launched in 1995 but best known once it was edited by Rita Payne

“Over the years, sadly, the resourcing declined and it’s become a struggle to fill the programme many days. We are enormously grateful for your [contributors] willingness to keep us going. I want to reassure you that we still need as much bespoke Asia content….Today also sees the start of the Power of Asia season.”

Aminagate

Syria’s Aminagate scandal is a warning to journalists, especially those concerned about the freedom of the media in dictator-run countries. Don’t believe everything you read in blogs.

In the blog Gay Girl in Damascus, Amina Abdallah Arraf al Omari claimed to be a Syrian teacher who got locked up by the vile government. The government may well be vile but Amina was not a gay teacher. Nor was she even in Syria.

The first definite evidence that she was not what she seemed was the discovery that the photos on her blog were of someone else. They were of a British resident; and ‘Amina’ had picked them up without permission. Then, on June 12, Ali Abunimah and Benjamin Doherty of the website electronic intifada tracked ‘her’ down. ‘She’ wasn’t a lesbian, or even a woman. ‘She’ was an American peace activist called Tom McMaster, living in Scotland.

India’s media need to make more of social media, says IMC

The India Media Centre at the University of Westminster is calling for papers for a conference on September 12 where speakers will include Sarmila Bose of Oxford University, Abhik Sen of The Economist and Bill Crawley, a member of CJA UK.

The IMC says that Indian mainstream media need to capitalise on the opportunities provided by social media and 3G. Social media can reach South Asians abroad. With a hundred round-the-clock news channels, India boasts the world’s more linguistically diverse news landscape.

Suggested topics for papers include ‘paid news’, the revolution in the vernacular press, the death of development news? and sting operations. Abstracts of 250 words must reach Helen Cohen at India mediaconferences@westminster.ac.uk by July 1.

The CJA does training

CJA Bangladesh and the Red Cross ran a training seminar for 22 journalists at Chittagong on how to report during disasters and conflicts. Disaster-prone Chittagong is on a coast frequently hit by cyclones.

CJA Pakistan ran a seminar on the part which women journalists can play in the media – Pakistan, in the past, has given them few opportunities. A Karachi paper headed its report: ‘Women and media: ingredients for a better tomorrow’.

Honouring the CJA’s founder

CJA president Hassan Shahriar gave a dinner in London in June to mark the birthday of the CJA’s founder, Derek Ingram. Several CJA UK members were there.

Derek was deputy of the Daily Mail, in its less right-wing days, but is better known as the founder of Gemini News Service. This provided world-wide distribution for features written mainly by journalists in developing countries, most of them in the Commonwealth. Derek also covered Africa’s progress to independence in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1980 he was press officer for Lord Soames, who presided over the disbandment of armed forces in Zimbabwe and the subsequent election which brought majority rule and the end of the Smith regime.

Death of a Commonwealth stalwart

Zena Daysh, a New Zealander who keenly supported the CJA in its early years, died in April in London. The Commonwealth association with which she was specially connected was the Commonwealth and Human Ecology Council, which she founded.

News from round the Commonwealth

THE GAMBIA

The Standard, banned last year, has permission to publish again.

Dodou Sanneh, who petitioned President Jammeh about wrongful dismissal from state-controlled Gambia Radio and Television Services, was arrested on March 16 and due in court on a false-information charge in June. In 2006 he was dismissed over his coverage of the opposition’s election campaign. In November that year he was reinstated but then dismissed again, this time without explanation.

Dr Amadou Scattered Janneh, who has criticised the disappearance of journalists and the hacking and blocking of websites, was arrested on June 7. Then he disappeared. Janneh is chief executive of an information technology company, which he set up himself. Before that he was a minister, dismissed in 2005. He has been lecturing on a range of issues this year.

On May 24 a court cleared Bakary B.Baldeh, a West Coast Radio sports presenter, of a charge brought as a result of a dispute on a golf course. Two workers complained they were unfairly treated by Ebrima Jawara, president of the Gambia Golfers Association and son of ex-President Jawara, who was deposed back in 1994 by an army officer, the current President Jammeh. Thie golf incident happened during a tournament sponsored by President Jammeh in honour of his daughter. The workers aired their grievances on Baldeh’s programme. The prosecutor alleged that they incited people to boycott the tournament.

GHANA

Daniel Nonor, a reporter for The Chronicle, was arrested, roughed up and detained for five hours by police who spotted him taking pictures of their aggressive crackdown on street vendors in Accra in April. He was released when The Chronicle’s associate editor intervened with the Mayor.

Security men in May prevented Hannah Odame of Joy FM Radio interviewing passport applicants complaining about delayed delivery of their passports. A deputy minister said the incident was unfortunate but Ms Odame had not respected the Passport Office’s rules.

Goore Bi Hue, a journalist from the Ivory Coast, was detained overnight on May 22 in Esiama in Ghana’s Western Region. A refugee had guided him to a camp near by. He was released when police decided he had no case to answer. The incident arose from Ivory Coast’s civil war. Goore works for Fraternite Matin, which supports the new Ouattara government that the refugees fled from. A camp spokesman asked Goore’s guide: “How can you lead a journalist from Fraternite Matin to me, to my hide-out?”

INDIA

Tarakant Dwivedi, who reported last year on poor security of weapons bought after the Mumbai terrorist attack, was arrested in May under the Official Secrets Act.

MALAYSIA

Mohamed Ha’ta Wahan of Utusan Malaysia was found guilty in April of tarnishing the image of its editors and disclosing its secrets. He had criticised the editors for giving control to the owner, the United Malays National Organisation, the dominant party in the government. According to the Malaysiakini website and other publications, he disclosed Utusan’s dismal financial performance.

NIGERIA

In late May, President Jonathan signed freedom of information into law, giving Nigerians the right to access facts and hold officials to account. The law covers any institution spending public funds. Officials have only a week to dig out the facts requested. The law was passed in 2007, but ex-President Obasanjo refused his consent. One of the first acts of newly-elected President Jonathan was to let it go ahead. Nigeria is the second country in West Africa to enact such a law. The first was Liberia.

PAKISTAN

Two young journalists, Wali Khan and Salman Shahzad, rode their motorbikes from Peshawar through Pakistan to draw attention to the plight of journalists in their country’s strife-torn areas.

Umar Cheema, a senior investigative journalist at The News, has won an international free speech award, from Syracuse University in New York state. As a result he has been invited to lecture and speak to journalists at other American universities also including Harvard. He was abducted and tortured in Pakistan last September. Despite threats to his life, he spoke out about what happened to him, and very loudly.

The coach of Multan Cricket Club died on June 15 when a stone hit him during an attack by veterinary students on the local press club. They were protesting against the veterinary medical council’s failure to accredit their courses, after five years. The press club’s vice-president, photographer Shahzad Anwar, sought to calm them but managed only to inflame them. They manhandled him and pelted other journalists with stones, injuring seven and damaging five cars. A disabled man who runs a tea stall in the press club suffered minor bruises.

SIERRA LEONE

Ibrahim Foday, a reporter on The Exclusive, was stabbed to death on June 12 by unknown assailants in Grafton, the town he lived in on the outskirts of Freetown. His death has been linked to a land dispute between Grafton and another town, Kossoh. The Media Foundation for West Africa and the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists are calling on the authorities to fully investigate the murder. The SLAJ has also been talking to Grafton and Kossoh elders.

SINGAPORE

The Court of Appeal upheld in May the six-week sentence on British writer and journalist Alan Shadrake for contempt of court in his 2010 book Once a Jolly Hangman. It argued that mandatory death sentences were not always equitably applied but were subject to political and economic pressures. The prosecutor claimed that Shadrake had transgressed the limits of free speech and maligned the entire judiciary. Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch replied: “The prosecution of Alan Shadrake for doing no more than call for legal reform is a devastating blow to free speech in Singapore. Until the government releases its iron grip on basic freedoms, the Singaporean people will remain all the poorer.”

SOUTH AFRICA

The Right2Know campaign is pressing people to sign a petition against a bill that gives every government body the right to declare any of its information a matter of national security and therefore off-limits for reporting and inquiries.

SRI LANKA

Kavitharan, who works for the Jaffna-based Uthayan, was attacked by strangers on May 28 and had to be treated in hospital. Over the years, Uthayan staff members have been under continual attack. Its editor has not left the premises in four years.

Meanwhile, persecution of the popular trilingual website LankaeNews has continued. Its editor was remanded in custody on March 31, on a charge of threatening the brother of someone known as Boothaya, who is suspected of setting to fire to the LankaeNews’ Colombo office in January. A court released the editor on April 7 despite a police application for a further remand. LankaeNews was temporarily suspended on April 28 till May 12. This was connected with the case against a journalist accused of a contempt of court, for which he has apologised. During last year’s elections, LankaeNews’ then editor fled the country after his life was threatened. Just before the election, a columnist and cartoonist was abducted. He has not yet been found

ZAMBIA

The government threatened in April to revoke the licence of any radio that broadcast campaign songs before the date of this year’s elections is announced. On April 8 Radio Phoenix broadcast an opposition song at the end of a paid-for political programme. Minister of Information Ronnie Shipakwasha said this contravened the electoral code, but Given Lubinda, an opposition MP, denied this. Anyway, he said, the code does not come into operation till the election date is announced. And what about the government songs broadcast by Zambia National Broadcasting? People with glass houses shouldn’t throw stones -– or something to that effect.

ZIMBABWE

Fees for foreign organisations covering Zimbabwe have been more than doubled. Those for local journalists writing for the foreign press have been multiplied by four. They are now 400 American dollars.

Source: Commonwealth Journalists Association