The Freedom of Expression Institute's (FXI) Anti-Censorship Programme (ACP)
has just released its second report, which tracks the progress of the programme since the release of its first report in May 2003. The report notes the fact that censorship has now firmly set in, in South Africa.

The postholder will be based at Amoud community-based University in Borama, which is the first institute of higher education to evolve since the end of Somaliland's period of conflict. The post offers an exciting opportunity to a resourceful and dedicated individual to assist in the development and management of information systems for the university, and offer necessary support and training to users.

Ibrahim Sorley, managing editor of the weekly 'Le Enqueteur' was sentenced to a 12-month "suspended jail term" by the Niamey Regional Court on October 14 2003. The court also barred Sorley from staying in the capital, Niamey, for three months.

The South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef), the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) and the South Africa Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-SA) have expressed disappointment at Hefer Commission chairman Justice Joos Hefer's ruling that former Sunday Times reporter Ranjeni Munusamy will have to testify before the commission. She was subpoenaed to give evidence to the commission about her story that the African National Congress (ANC) investigated National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka as an apartheid government spy. The judge ignored a substantive argument from the three organisations, which stated that media freedom and journalists' lives would be in danger if they were forced to testify and identify their sources.

A senior journalist with "Savana" newspaper, Fernando Manuel, was brutally assaulted by a youth on 15 October 2003. His assailant apparently felt offended by an article written by the journalist and published in the 10 October edition of "Savana". The article in question was a profile of a recently deceased woman. In the article, Manuel highlighted her extensive development work in the community and commented on the need to recognise her achievements.

The government controlled media’s monopoly of daily news output since the banning of The Daily News was again highlighted this week by the superficial and distorted nature of its coverage of the police crackdown on labour protests and the illegal detention of the South African High Commissioner to Zimbabwe by new farmers. Zimbabweans no longer have any mass circulating daily alternative source of information and therefore cannot so easily assess the truth of events as reported in the government media. But it needs no comparison to state that the accounts of both incidents in The Herald and on ZBC reflected only official opinion and reported vaguely on the two events, says the latest update from The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe.

Four more journalists from "The Daily News" have been charged by police for practicing without accreditation, as required by the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIIPA). The four Bulawayo-based journalistsare Chris Gande, Oscar Nkala, Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu and Grey Chitika.

Human Rights Update, Newsletter of the Human Rights Unit of the Commonwealth Secretariat, provides a comprehensive briefing on human rights issues related to the Commonwealth. The June 2003 issue, for example, begins with articles on the Sierra Leone Special Court and on Education and Economic Development. It continues with a special feature on the Rights Based Approach to Development, following on from a January 2003 feature on the same subject. The focus of the edition is on Zimbabwe, where the Commonwealth position on the country is set out. The edition contains The Marlborough House Statement on Zimbabwe; the Zimbabwe Mid-Term Review; a 16 March 2003 Commonwealth Statement on Zimbabwe and Excerpts from an Address by the Commonwealth Secretary-General to the Commonwealth Business Council on 17 January 2003. Information on the International Convention on the Rights of Migrants and their Families, an International Labour Organisation report on discrimination at work and an overview of the 59th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, is also provided. For comments, contributions and copies of the publications please contact: Human Rights Unit, Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HX, United Kingdom. Telephone: +44 (0)20 7747 6423, Fax: +44 (0)20 7747 6418, e-mail: [email protected] Website: www.thecommonwealth.org

Themba Lesizwe, a South African Network of Trauma Service Providers with more than 100 NPO affiliates, has awarded R6.5mn to 60 crime and violence empowerment projects. Organisations were awarded grants of between R50 000 and R200 000 for research, improving accessibility of trauma counselling and mental health services in poor communities, raising public awareness about violence and abuse, and training of volunteers and frontline workers in trauma management.

To rekindle the confidence of the international community, particularly the sleaze watchdog, the Switzerland-based Transparency International (TI) in its anti-corruption crusade, Nigeria needs to quickly enact its Freedom to Information law, a report by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) submitted to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Headquarters seems to have suggested.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has signed into law the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Amendment Act (AIPPA Amendment), which seeks to correct certain anomalies that came to light after the law was promulgated in 2002. The new act redefines Section 2 of the principal act. The term "mass media service" or "mass media", which hitherto had been unclear, has been defined as "any service, media or medium consisting in the transmission of voice, visual, data or textual messages to an unlimited number of people and includes an advertising agency, publisher or, except otherwise excluded or specially provided for in this Act, a news agency or broadcasting licensee as defined in the Broadcasting Services Act".
Related Link:
* As Zanu PF now knows, propaganda does not sell
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=7741

Although cellular access to the Internet is nothing new, it has not caught on in Africa. That is largely because it has been sold as a way for users to display Internet content on a cellphone itself, with its tiny screen making very unappealing viewing. Now a trio of firms is touting a new technology as a way to connect computers to the Internet by using the cellphone as a modem.

The Communications Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) campaign, while recognising the progress made by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in ensuring the participation of all stakeholders, including Civil Society, deplores the absence, removal or dilution of positions on issues that are core to communication rights, in particular the sections on Community Media, Intellectual Property Rights, Internet governance, “Information Security” and funding.

A recent action by the Senegalese authorities has raised fears concerning the press's future and the right to information in a country which until now has been known to respect democracy and freedom. Police officers arrested Sophie Malibeaux, Radio France Internationale's (RFI) permanent special correspondent, in Ziguinchor, southern Senegal, on 7 October 2003. Malibeaux was covering a meeting of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de Casamance, MFDC), an armed independence group, when she was arrested and forced onto a special flight to Dakar.

More attention should be given to science and technology that directly affects the lives of ordinary Africans, a leading African UN official has said. Speaking at a meeting this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, K.Y. Amoako, executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, criticised science and technology policies in the continent for focusing on high-level experts and researchers.

This week, six defiant words - "The Daily News will be back" - appeared at the top of The Daily News’ new Website, promising readers the battle is far from over. Following the paper’s September 12 closure, the main Website was stripped of its stories. However, people from around the world continued to use the Web site’s interactive chat page to keep each other informed of the situation and voice their opinions.

Organisers say the Somali peace talks underway in Kenya are on course, and contrary to reports, have not stalled. James Kiboi, a member of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) technical committee which is steering the talks, admitted that "some personalities are not at the talks", but that the proceedings were continuing.

The High Court in Singida zone has sentenced three women to 30 years in jail after a girl on whom they had performed female genital mutilation (FGM) died.

Wessenseged Gebrekidan, editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper "Etiop", was summoned by the Central Investigation Department on October 9. Gebrekidan reported to police and was released on bail of Eth. Birr 5,000 (approx. US$585) after making a statement. The editor was summoned in connection with a news item entitled "National Military Service Proclamation promptly approved". The item was published in "Etiop" newspaper on 9 April.

Paul Kamara, managing editor of the "For-Di-People" newspaper, was arrested and detained on October 3 at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Kamara was released after seven hours and asked to report the following morning. He was arrested in connection with a front page article published in the October 3, 2003 edition of the paper. The article challenged the constitutional legality of the Speaker of Parliament, Justice Edmond Cowan's defence of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah in Parliament.