Of fallen and persecuted journalists

Global Voices Advocacy raises the alert about three journalists arrested in Cote d’Ivoire for publishing an leaked report on alleged corruption in the coffee and cocoa trade:

‘Three journalists from [Le Nouveau Courrier"> have been arrested since Tuesday July 13th for publishing a leaked report on alleged corruption in the cocoa and coffee trade in Côte d'Ivoire.

‘The three journalists – Editor Saint Claver Oula, publisher Stéphane Guédé and managing editor Théophile Kouamouo – were arrested by plain-clothes police on public prosecutor Raymond Tchimou Fehou’s orders and taken into custody after refusing to reveal their sources during a surprise visit at the Nouveau Courrier's offices. That morning Le Nouveau Courrier had published the first instalment in a series that was to last the whole week on the embezzlement investigation into 30 people in the coffee and cocoa national industry. According to Le Nouveau Courrier, these alleged policemen didn't have a search warrant but they carried out a search of all the computers at the newspaper's offices, looking to seize the original documents of the investigation that were to be published in subsequent days. During the search a computer was removed and criminal police superintendant Maxime Gogoua and other police officers pointed their guns at members of the staff.’

Women’s Rights writes about the use of rape as weapon of war in the Congo:

‘There's been a lot written about the use of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative has found a 17-fold increase in the number of civilian rapes. Rape as war has become rape as culture. Nicholas Kristoff has written about this in Liberia, and now it's happening in the Congo.

‘Researchers surveyed over 4,000 women who sought treatment at one of the hospitals in the Eastern part of Congo, the ground zero of rape. They found that while war rapes were declining, civilian rapes had increased dramatically: 17-fold. Not doubled, nor tripled, nor even quadrupled, but increased 17-fold. We don't even have a special word for that sharp an increase.

‘The researchers speculate that the increase is the result of men who have left rebel groups, but have not given up their war raping ways, and a general cultural acceptance of sexual violence. As a former United Nations official explained, violence societies beget violent societies and this won't be corrected in a single generation.’

Mtoto wa jirani warns that the inability or unwillingness of African tech leaders to be true leaders may kill technology innovation on the continent:

‘Instead of supporting the growth of upcoming tech projects in Africa, tech leaders are “busy” nursing their pet projects, which, in my opinion, are not any making positive impacts in Africa!

‘On roles, Africa’s tech leaders should be focusing their efforts on nurturing new talent and innovations that not only aim to advance technology in Africa, but also aim to help Africa and its peoples in some way. For any techie, this should be a priority. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Most leaders would rather spend their time and effort hopping from one conference to the other talking about the issues in the tech space and doing nothing about them!

‘How many projects, people or talent have you nurtured? Have you brought them to the same success level as your own pet project? Or is it not a priority in the context of technological advancement in Africa? Let’s visit your email inbox. How many unreplied messages do you have (especially the ones explicitly asking for your help)? How many have you replied superficially? How many have you followed up?

‘Unless we change our attitudes and behaviors to more positive influences, this current worrying trend WILL kill the growth of African technology.’

Writing in The Huffington Post, Omoloye Sowore of Sahara Reporters focuses public attention on the largely ignored oil spills in Nigeria:

‘The story line sounds familiar. A big oil company (in this case ExxonMobil) leaks vast amounts of oil, pollutes the waters (in this case the Atlantic Ocean) killing the fish, local industries and any hopes of a rapid clean up.

‘It's time the world paid attention. I've been reporting this story since ExxonMobil decided to import a 30-year-old leaking oil platform to Nigeria from Angola, a platform even Angola's government regulators rejected! I'm no businessman, but that doesn't exactly sound like a good investment.

‘But just as BP has handled its oil spill disaster off in the Gulf of Mexico, ExxonMobil and the Nigerian government are handling things incredibly poorly too. In fact, they're trying to act as if this spill hasn't happened. American media outlets have been denied access to Nigeria. The government has imposed a 50-mile media blackout around the spill site -- from land, air and sea -- so no one can get close and see the disaster first hand. My sources tell me that ExxonMobil officials have been bribing local Nigerian officials in the hope they can "make it all go away"...

‘Here's what ExxonMobil and the government in Nigeria don't want you to know. They don't want you to know this 30-year-old platform is still leaking at least five thousand of barrels of crude a day. They don't want you to know that they can't fix the leak (sounds familiar again doesn't it?) They don't want you to know that if the current pipes break further before they can fix the platform, it will release 60 to 100 thousand of barrels of oil a day.’

Over at Destination: South Africa, Canadian journalist Anjali Nayar whose World Cup blog chronicled her journey by bus, car, bike, foot and plane from the Ivory Coast (passing through Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon) to South Africa, reviews her three-month odyssey:

‘Over the last week in South Africa, the street-side stacks of flags, jerseys and side mirror Speedos have more-or-less cleared out. After weeks of solid sales, the demand for stockpiles of cheap Chinese-made World Cup goods is over.

‘A few days after the relatively 'ugly' final between the Netherlands and Spain, life has pretty much returned to normal in South Africa. Airport queues are thinning, schools are back in session, and in the workplace, people are re-directing their time to Facebook...

‘As I deflated my soccer ball for one last flight home (with the entrails of a bic pen), I reminisced about all the people and places I had crossed over the last three months. It took an epic journey to learn about what soccer means to Africa, but also to learn about what the game means to me, personally…

‘I loved every minute of the drive, the discipline, and the intense competition. And when I saw the golden glitter shining down on the Spanish team, I could feel their elation, their victory, because I've felt it before.

‘But on this trip I also learned the joy of when there aren't any rules, any sidelines or any teams. On my trip, whatever nonsense happened during the day, I always looked forward to getting out there on the grass or dirt and just playing.

‘I played with some of Africa's big stars, like Roger Milla, and many more people, who despite big dreams will never make it out of the ghetto. It's a journey, which has given me (and I hope you) more insight into the African continent, the continent I've called home for the last four years.’

Agendia Aloysius pays tribute to Cameroonian journalist Pius Njawe who died in a car accident in the United States:

‘I lack words here. The heart breaking news was too harsh to be true, too bitter to swallow. I do not even know where to start or end. I did not want to believe Njawe was dead. But yes, he was killed. Yes, Njawe was killed in a ghastly car accident in the US state of Virginia in the afternoon of Monday July 12, 2010.

‘Njawe was in the US attending the convention of Cameroon Diaspora for Change CAMDIAC-USA. As a freedom fighter, Njawe died in the course of doing what he liked most. Struggling for the emancipation of Cameroon and Cameroonians... Njawe dedicated all his life for the development of Cameroon. He fought relentlessly for the freedom of the press and mankind. He was an opinion leader, a human rights activist... He is said to have been arrested 126 times and imprisoned thrice in his 30 year career. Njawe was the first ever and youngest Cameroonian to dedicate his life to freedom of the press and human rights. This is why at 22, in 1979 he was already a publisher of a newspaper, Le Messager. This newspaper has turned out to be Cameroon most vocal media outlet...

‘It was Le Messager that did the most detailed coverage of 1984 abortive coup d’état. It was Le Messager that extensively covered the 1990 university unrest and political turmoil, it was Le Messager that spearheaded the coverage of all elections in Cameroon and their controversies. It was Le Messager that covered in detail, the massacre of university students in 2005, 2006 and 2007 in Buea, Yaoundé and Douala... It was Le Messager that spoke against the modification of the constitution to cancel presidential term limits. The list is endless, and all these were under the directorship of the indefatigable Pius Njawe...

‘There is no doubt, absolutely no doubt that certain quarters will be rejoicing in Cameroon. A contingent of neo-colonial administrators left for Paris on the eve of Njawe's death to celebrate the colonial master's national day. No mincing of words here. Yes, they will be happy.’

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Dibussi Tande blogs at Scribbles from the Den.
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