Justice demanded for slain journalist ahead of AU summit

When the African Union (AU) meets for its annual summit in the Gambian capital Banjul next week, local journalists will not only report on events they will also recall them. Specifically, they want to remind summit participants of the murder of prominent Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara 18 months ago. The Gambia Press Union is urging the summit to press the Gambian government to allow a private investigation from abroad into the murder. Hydara was shot dead in his car about 15 minutes after leaving the offices of the The Point newspaper on the evening of 16 December 2004. “We’re still not satisfied with the investigation on the cause of his death,” said Madi Ceesay, president of the press union in Banjul. “The report published by the government was not acceptable. It did not address the issue of who killed him. Either the government does not have the manpower or the capabilities. If they allow outsiders in it may help.” Respect for press freedom is a civil liberty that is taken into account when Western donors evaluate a country’s eligibility for development funding. Last week, the Washington, D.C.-based Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) suspended The Gambia’s eligibility to participate in its programme for failing to adhere to the organization’s standards, including respecting press freedom. The MCC, which is a US government body, provides funding to reduce poverty through economic growth. In a speech earlier this year, Gambian Secretary of State for Justice Sheikh Tijan Hydara said the government’s investigation into Hydara’s death was ongoing. Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF or Reporters Without Borders) says Hydara’s murder is just one example of press repression in The Gambia. “We are very concerned about what is going on there,” said Leonard Vincent, Africa desk officer with RSF. “We have systematic arbitrary arrests, torture and detention, illegal closing of media offices, a climate of terror on the independent press.” RSF has launched a radio spot available to African radio stations about the Hydara murder in the run-up to the AU summit. The spot, which features commentary by Hydara’s son, Baba, aims to trigger action to find Hydara’s killers and to generally raise awareness about press freedom in The Gambia. Vincent said Hydara, 58, had received numerous threats before he was slain. Hydara was a correspondent for RSF for 10 years. He also worked as a correspondent for Agence France-Press in addition to being an editor at The Point. He was an outspoken critic of press repression under the government of President Yahya Jammeh. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) said on Monday that a stringer for the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) in The Gambia was arrested on 30 May. Omar Bah, news editor of the privately owned Daily Observer has been missing since 12 June, MFWA said. Several other journalists have been detained this year. Other press freedom violations in recent years include threats, harassment, shuttering newspapers, burning printing presses and setting fire to a BBC journalist’s house. While many African countries are improving press freedom, Vincent said, The Gambia is slipping backward. “It’s a real contrast between Benin, for example, and The Gambia. You have the best and the worst,” Vincent said. “You have situations that are really improving, like Mauritania or Mali, even Cameroon. We have more and more countries every year improving the situation. But we have very dark spots.” He cited The Gambia, Eritrea and Zimbabwe as among the worst violators of press freedom. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d’Ivoire, Vincent said, have an independent press but the media tends to play dangerous politics with that freedom by “acting as propaganda activists for politicians.” Ethnic tension has helped triggered conflict in both Cote d’Ivoire and Congo. “President Yahya Jammeh’s intolerance of dissent has plummeted to new depths, with incommunicado detentions and widespread intimidation of independent voices,” said Ann Cooper, executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, in a statement in June. CPJ urged the AU summit to denounce the deterioration of press freedom in The Gambia and to consider moving the summit elsewhere. cs/ccr