**Updates IFEX alerts of 2 February and 19 January 2000** (RSF/IFEX) – In an 11 February 2000 letter to the governor of Kwanza North province, Manuel Pedro Pacavira, RSF protested the detention of Andre Domingos Mussamo, editor-in-chief of the local desk of Radio Nacional de Angola, and correspondent with the privately owned biweekly “Folha 8”. […]
**Updates IFEX alerts of 2 February and 19 January 2000**
(RSF/IFEX) – In an 11 February 2000 letter to the governor of Kwanza North province, Manuel Pedro Pacavira, RSF protested the detention of Andre Domingos Mussamo, editor-in-chief of the local desk of Radio Nacional de Angola, and correspondent with the privately owned biweekly “Folha 8”. Calling for the journalist’s immediate release, the organisation reminded the governor that the legal limit for holding a person in custody in Angola is 45 days, whereas the journalist has now been detained without charge for more than 60 days. RSF also recalled that Angola has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 19 of which guarantees freedom of expression. “Our organisation also calls on you to ensure that journalists can work freely and safely in Kwanza North province,” added Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general.
According to the information collected by RSF, Domingos Mussamo was arrested on 2 December 1999 by the police’s criminal investigation department (DNIC). He was taken to jail in N’Dalatando, Kwanza North’s provincial capital, where he was held in incommunicado detention for two weeks. The journalist is being detained because of an unpublished article he wrote which referred to a letter from the provincial governor to President Eduardo Dos Santos. Authorities have accused him of stealing documents, though no formal charges have been laid.
