Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)

(MFWA/IFEX) – MFWA welcomes the government’s recent pledge to liberalise Guinea’s airwaves and permit independent broadcasting soon. Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo announced the decision during the week of 3 January 2005, when he met with leaders of the ruling and opposition parties. The government has set up an interim ministerial commission to work on […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 5 January 2005, “Forum” newspaper was sued for US$2 million for allegedly libelling Melee Kermue, a senatorial candidate in Bong county (central Liberia). According to MFWA-Liberia sources, the lawsuit against “Forum” followed the publication of a 4 January article entitled, “Wanted Hope International Boss Escapes Justice from the U.S.”. The newspaper reported […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 30 December 2004, Sam Obi, a Nigerian journalist and presenter for the privately-owned City Limits Radio station, was detained and subjected to questioning by officials of the Gambia Police Force’s Serious Crime Unit for six hours, in Serre Kunda, following an interview he granted to Radio France International (RFI). According to MFWA […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 22 December 2004, journalists were prevented from covering a press conference address by the head of state, General Lansana Conté. According to MFWA-Guinea, the “red berets” of the Presidential Security Unit’s Autonomous Battalion (Bataillon autonome de la sécurité présidentielle, BASP), a special branch of the army responsible for the president’s security, barred […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 20 December 2004, issue 99 of the weekly newspaper “Le Témoin” was seized by police in the capital, Niamey. According to MFWA, four plainclothes police officers went to the Nouvelle Imprimerie du Niger (NIN), the country’s largest private printing press, at about 6:00 p.m. (local time), and asked to see the director. […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 14 December 2004, the National Assembly, The Gambia’s rubber-stamp Parliament, passed the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act, 2004, in spite of local and international appeals and protests by journalists and human rights bodies. The act amends provisions of the country’s Criminal Code, which previously provided for a fine on conviction for defamation. Under […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – The following is an MFWA press release: THE GAMBIA MEDIA UNDER SIEGE A proposed Criminal Code Amendment Bill, which the government-dominated, and controlled, National Assembly is set to rubber-stamp into law, is perhaps the most ominous evidence yet that the government of President Yaya Jammeh is determined to kill off the independent media […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 13 November 2004, Mohamed Amara Josiah, a correspondent for “Standard Times” newspaper in Kenema, eastern Sierra Leone, was assaulted by a group of men until he fell into a coma. Amara is currently responding to treatment at a local hospital in the region. According to MFWA sources in Sierra Leone, the attack […]