(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply concerned over the detention of and assault on Gibril Foday Musa, editor of the Freetown-based “New Tablet” newspaper, by members of the Kamajor civil militia, during the afternoon of 10 June 1999. Musa was detained shortly after the arrest of two journalists of the “Independent Observer”, by soldiers of the […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply concerned over the detention of and assault on
Gibril Foday Musa, editor of the Freetown-based “New Tablet” newspaper, by
members of the Kamajor civil militia, during the afternoon of 10 June 1999.
Musa was detained shortly after the arrest of two journalists of the
“Independent Observer”, by soldiers of the Nigerian-led West African
peacekeeping force (ECOMOG), earlier the same day (see IFEX alerts of 11 and
10 June 1999).
Two Kamajor militiamen came to the offices of the “New Sierra Leonean”
newspaper,
which shares the premises with the “New Tablet” in central Freetown,
searching for
its editor, George Khoryama. This was in connection with an article in the
10 June edition of the “New Sierra Leonean” titled “Kamajors Vow to
Overthrow Kabbah,” alleging that the Kamajors intend to topple the
government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah if he agrees to a power-sharing
agreement with the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Khoryama was not
in the office, and the Kamajors began questioning the unidentified caretaker
and Musa. Several more militia members arrived, and took Musa and the
caretaker in a vehicle to their headquarters at the city’s Brookfields
Hotel. Musa later reported that he and the caretaker were stripped down to
their underwear, beaten, and locked in a small generator room which the
intruders filled with water, so that the men were unable to sit down. The
men were released that evening. Khoryama, meantime, is reported to be in
hiding.
Sources in Freetown report that the Kamajors have increasingly issued
threats against journalists who dare to criticize them. Although the Kamajor
civil militia are officially an auxiliary force to the ECOMOG peacekeepers,
and a traditional ally of President Kabbah since before he was temporarily
ousted from power in the military coup of May 1997, they are widely regarded
as an independent force. During the ongoing peace talks between the Sierra
Leone government and RUF rebels in Togo, the Kamajors have openly expressed
concern about the possibility of a power-sharing agreement between the two
sides. At the state opening of parliament in Freetown on 11 June, President
Kabbah referred to a peace agreement based on “political inclusion,” which
most observers regard as tantamount to power-sharing.
