Journalists under threat, RSF says

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), headquartered in Paris, have come out against attacks against journalists in Sierra Leone.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, the CPJ said it was "deeply concerned about a number of attacks on the press in Freetown in recent days". It said an officer of ECOMOG, the West African peacekeeping force, was directly involved in one attack and, in another case, an ECOMOG officer stood by and did nothing to intervene.

RSF asked Sierra Leone's Minister of Internal Affairs and Local Government, Charles Margai, in a letter dated 24 August "to use your authority to thoroughly investigate the aggression and condemn the individuals concerned" and "to ensure the security of all journalists in Sierra Leone".

The two organisations said that, according to information they had received, three members of the Revolutionary United Front(RUF) ransacked the offices of 'For Di People' newspaper on 20 August and beat its editor, Paul Kamara.

The rebels had taken offence at an article published in the Monday edition of the newspaper saying they had demanded money from the government for staying in Freetown and that they had wasted it, RSF reported. CPJ said an ECOMOG officer stood by and did nothing to prevent the assault.

On the same day, CPJ and RSF said, a member of the West African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG, threatened Jonathan Leigh, managing editor of the Independent Observer, over an article published on 18 August accusing ECOMOG soldiers of being ineffective against thieves.