Human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba has taken the Zimbabwean government to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to answer charges of torture by state security agents while representing an opposition legislator. Shumba, through his legal counsel, David Padilla, brought the action against President Robert Mugabe's regime claiming he was kidnapped, tortured and made to swear allegiance to Mugabe by Zimbabwean security agents while representing MDC St Mary's MP Job Sikhala in January last year.

The Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) encourages participation in their web-discussion forums as a way of exchanging views and ideas and enhancing networking activities. You can log on through the URL provided.

More than 200 bushmen from the Kalahari desert are taking the Botswana government to court over their forced eviction from ancestral land. They are challenging a 2002 decision to resettle them outside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, which was their home for tens of thousands of years.

In a joint communiqué with the United Nations, the Sudanese government on Saturday formally committed to the immediate disarmament of Janjawid militias and other outlaws operating in the western Darfur region. The communiqué was issued at the end of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s three-day visit to Sudan and Chad, where he met and talked to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees who had fled from the ongoing conflict.

"We congratulate you on the development of the vision, mission and strategic framework for the development of the African Union. We particularly commend the Commission on the aspects that seek to further develop a wide range of rights issues in Africa.

In line with this direction, our delegation has asked to meet with you today to draw your attention to the untenable situation of the media in Africa and the critical need for a new continental mechanism to promote and guarantee media freedom. In 2003, there were 170 reported cases of attacks on journalists and media houses by governments either through ‘legal’ and ‘judicial’ persecution or through harassment and intimidation by security agents. (Kindly see some examples in Appendix 1). Many more went unreported.

In June 2004 the figure for reported violations of media freedom already stands at 102. If this trend continues, there may be well over 200 such cases by the end of 2004, an increase of almost 20% on last year.
This sad situation persists, because many member governments of the African Union do not accept that their citizens and media have the right to express or report views and events that are contrary to, or are critical of the ‘official’ position.

This state of affairs is further underlined by the fact that at present, there are no legal or institutional frameworks that adequately guarantee media freedom in Africa, at the continental level.

Persistent official persecution, arbitrary harassment, and physical intimidation, make it impossible for the African media to collectively, effectively and freely serve as a platform for the dissemination of news and information, and as an avenue for debate, and expression of opinions and ideas - a process which is vital to the democratic, and socio economic development of Africa.

>>>>>Read the rest of this statement and the appendices that it refers to by clicking in the link below.

The Ivorian Broadcasting Corporation (RTI) was on Thursday, June 10, 2004 issued with a censorship fiat, requiring it to clear all information originating from or about Gohitafla in western Côte d'Ivoire with the office of the acting Minister of Communication, Alphone Douaty. According to Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)-Côte d'Ivoire sources, the ministry named two journalists to monitor radio and television news bulletins "likely to endanger the security of Côte d'Ivoire" before they are broadcast.

The free and open source software (Foss) community has got a new home in East Africa. A recent venture between Linux Solutions, the International Institute of Communication and Development and Uganda Martyrs University has led to the formation of the East African Centre for Open Source Software (EACOSS).

Responding to the demands of past Time to Get Online workshop participants, Kabissa launches a new Training-of-Trainers program for West African civil society organizations in August. The Time to Get Online curriculum combines self-learning materials and hands-on workshops to help African civil society organizations to build capacity through internet-based information sharing and advocacy initiatives. The Training-of-Trainers model enables us to have an even greater impact on civil society organizations throughout the region by creating a network of ICT training partners empowered to deliver this curriculum in their own communities.

On 31 May 2004, the High Court in Blantyre ordered the police to reopen the Malawi Institute of Journalism's (MIJ) 90.3 FM radio station, which was shut down on 23 May. The station was closed following an interview it broadcast with the opposition Mgwirizano Coalition's spokesperson, Kholiwe Mkandawire, in which she threatened to sabotage newly-elected President Bingu Mutharika's inauguration.

This newsletter is a monthly forum to share and learn about experiences and new developments in the promotion/adoption of conservation agriculture with special focus on Africa. If you wish to receive the newsletter send an e-mail message to [email protected] with a one-line text message as follows: SUBSCRIBE ACT Now.

On 26 June 2004, after 20 days in detention, Gustave Kalenga Kabanda, managing editor of the Kinshasa-based weekly "La Flamme du Congo", was released by order of the Kinshasa/Gombe High Court's public prosecutor. The journalist posted bail of 20,000 Congolese francs (approx. US$53). On 7 June, Kalenga Kabanda was arrested at his residence in Kinshasa/Ngaliema by judicial police. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, one of the country's four vice-presidents, accused the journalist of "residence violation" and spying for unauthorised filming of construction at his residence in Gemena, a city located in the northern province of Equateur.

Members of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX), an international network of freedom of expression organisations from around the world, are deeply concerned about ongoing media freedom and freedom of expression violations taking place in Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. They have made a statement which was issued by the Africa Caucus at the 11th General Meeting of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) in Baku, Azerbaijan, 13-18 June 2004.

Africa’s leading human rights body has been asked to intervene in the case of a Cameroonian radio station closed by the government. The complaint to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights was filed on behalf of Freedom FM, an independent radio station in Douala, Cameroon. The station has been arbitrarily denied a broadcasting license since its application was submitted in October 2002. In May 2003, police seized the station’s studios and sealed off access to its broadcasting equipment. The owners have been refused entry ever since.

The Review, a publication of the North-South Institute, is now available online Visit NSI’s website to download the most recent issue of the Institute’s biannual newsletter. It includes several feature articles.
Among these are:
* Cancun - A view from outside the negotiating rooms
* The African Union - Delivering on the “responsibility to protect”

The ICT Stakeholder Forum is aimed at bringing stakeholders together to examine concrete projects proposals and models that will help integrate least developed countries into the global economy through the effective deployment of information communication technologies.

Fast Search & Transfer? (FAST?), the leading developer of enterprise search and real-time alerting technologies, has announced that HURIDOCS, a global network of human rights organisations and activists, has deployed a hosted application of the FAST Enterprise Search Platform (FAST ESP?) to power HURISEARCH (www.hurisearch.org), a non-profit human rights search engine. With FAST ESP, HURISEARCH provides a single point of access to human rights information published by more than 1,300 non-governmental organisations (NGO) worldwide in 77 languages. This helps activists capitalize on a wealth of existing information in support of human rights.

Sam Hinga Norman, the former leader of a pro-government militia group in Sierra Leone, said on Tuesday that he rejected the right of a UN-backed Special Court to try him for war crimes and urged its judges to disregard any prosecution evidence brought before them. Hinga Norman sacked his team of defence lawyers at the start of proceedings on 3 June, only to be told by the court last week that he would not be allowed to conduct his own defence.

On June 8 2004, photographer Thari Leepile from the Midweek Sun newspaper was assaulted by Elizabeth Surtee and her son, Edward Mzwinila, who are facing trial for alleged armed robbery.

On 7 June 2004, Gustave Kalenga Kabanda, managing editor of the Kinshasa-based weekly "La Flamme du Congo" ("Congo's Flame") was arrested by judicial police at his home in Kinshasa-Ngaliema. Kalenga Kabanda was taken to the Kinshasa-Gombe Court's detention centre (commonly referred to as the "judicial locker"), where he was detained for 48 hours before being taken to the General Court's detention centre, near Kinshasa-Gombe's Court of First Instance. According to information obtained by JED, Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) four vice-presidents, accused Kalenga Kabanda of spying after he was caught filming renovations being made to Bemba Gombo's home in Gemena, a city in Equateur province, northern DRC.

"The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) condemn the cynical and unconstitutional banning of The Tribune newspaper by the government-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC). This latest onslaught against free expression, and particularly the privately owned media, demonstrates precisely why so many of the provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) are clearly anti-democratic and grossly repressive. The flimsy regulatory grounds cited as reasons for silencing The Tribune cannot be used to overrule the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression."