CPJ deeply concerned by recent attacks on the press

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply concerned about a number of attacks on the press in Freetown in recent days. An ECOMOG officer was directly involved in one attack. In another case, an ECOMOG officer stood by and did nothing to intervene. On 20 August 1999, an ECOMOG officer calling himself Major Anthony threatened Jonathan Leigh, […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply concerned about a number of attacks on the press
in Freetown in recent days. An ECOMOG officer was directly involved in one
attack. In another case, an ECOMOG officer stood by and did nothing to
intervene.

On 20 August 1999, an ECOMOG officer calling himself Major Anthony
threatened
Jonathan Leigh, managing editor of the Freetown-based “Independent Observer”
newspaper. The officer apparently told Leigh over the telephone, “If you get
into ECOMOG’s net again, you won’t come out alive.” This threat came in
response to a satirical article in the Friday 18 August edition of the
newspaper that questioned ECOMOG’s ability to keep the peace in Freetown, in
light of an increase in armed robberies in the city’s East End.

Also on 20 August, three commanders of the Revolutionary United Front
(RUF) – Mike Lamine, Dennis “Superman” Mingo and “Brigadier Five-Five”
(otherwise known as S.P. Kanu) – stormed the offices of “For Di People”
newspaper in Freetown. The three men assaulted the paper’s publisher and
owner, Paul Kamara, who is still unable to walk properly after an
assassination attempt in 1996. Lamine, who was reportedly drunk at the time,
hit Kamara in the face and smashed his glasses. An ECOMOG officer stood by
and did nothing to prevent the assault.

During the assault, the RUF commanders complained about an article published
in “For Di People” that same day which claimed that the rebel commanders in
Freetown were demanding fancy cars and daily allowances from the government.
A photograph showed some of the commanders in question drinking at a
Freetown bar. The three commanders said such reports endangered them and
sent the wrong signal to RUF fighters still in the bush.

There have been several other reports of harassment and intimidation of the
press by members of both the RUF and the former ruling junta of the Armed
Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), sometimes in the presence of ECOMOG
officers. Earlier this week, an ECOMOG soldier escorted two former AFRC
officials to the offices of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) in
the New England area of Freetown, where they demanded air time (which was
not granted) in order to brief their fighters in the bush about the peace
process.

Recommended Action

Lt. Col. Chris Olokulade

Chief Military Press Information Officer

ECOMOG Headquarters

Freetown, Sierra Leone

Fax: +232 22 272627