(RSF/IFEX) – Robert Sebufilira, publication director of the independent weekly “Umuseso”, was arrested on 19 November 2003, close to the Ugandan border. The journalist had travelled to the area to pick up 4,000 copies of his weekly’s most recent issue. “Umuseso” is published in Uganda, where printing costs are cheaper. Sebufilira was immediately transferred to […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Robert Sebufilira, publication director of the independent weekly “Umuseso”, was arrested on 19 November 2003, close to the Ugandan border. The journalist had travelled to the area to pick up 4,000 copies of his weekly’s most recent issue. “Umuseso” is published in Uganda, where printing costs are cheaper. Sebufilira was immediately transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (Département d’investigations criminelles, CID) in the capital, Kigali.
The next day, Sebufilira’s assistant, McDowell Kalisa, and three other staff members from the newspaper went to the CID to enquire about the publication director’s situation. The four were immediately detained.
According to eyewitnesses at the scene, these latest arrests are linked to the publication of an article in “Umuseso” which reported on the “expected demobilisation” of General-Major Kayumba Nyamwasa, a former army chief of staff and current National Security Service director.
Without taking a position on the content of the article, RSF urges the authorities to do everything possible to ensure that the publication director of “Umuseso” and his colleagues are released without delay. “To the best of our knowledge, the weekly did nothing more than exercise its right to inform its readers. Nothing can justify the prolonged detention of these employees from the paper,” the organisation said.
RSF recalls that the former director of “Umuseso” left the country after being arrested and receiving threats (see IFEX alerts of 3 March and 25 February 2003).
