"Terrorist" journalists vow to continue

Zimbabwe correspondents working for foreign newspapers told IRIN on Monday they would continue to report on events in their country despite being accused by the government of assisting "terrorists".

"I take great exception to being called a terrorist, I'll carry on reporting the truth," said Basildon Peta, who files for Britain's Independent and South Africa's Star. "I'm now getting death threats on a daily basis, today I found a box of live ammunition on my doorstep," he added.

A government representative said on Friday that correspondents for Britain's Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, and The Independent newspapers distorted the truth and assisted terrorists through their reports.

The state-run Herald newspaper quoted an unnamed government representative as saying that South Africa's Star, The Zimbabwe Independent and The Associated Press (AP) news agency were also guilty. South-African based human rights activist, Richard Carver was also named by the government.

The journalists had all reported on attacks on opposition activists by government supporters. An unnamed presidential spokesman said their reports were "demonising Zimbabwe, its government and people".

Peta Thornycroft, Daily Telegraph correspondent in Zimbabwe, told IRIN that such accusations were the sign of a desperate regime. "It's a hell of a serious thing, because we don't know how the new public order security act will deal with 'terrorists'," she said.

The new law, that is being fast-tracked through Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF-dominated parliament will punish acts of "insurgency, banditry, sabotage, terrorism, treason and subversion" with life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Thornycroft added that despite the current dangers, foreign journalists were much more fortunate than their local counterparts. "They have nowhere to run to and there's less international interest in their plight."

Zimbabwe's independent press has been under siege for most of this year. The printing press of the privately-run Daily News newspaper was bombed in January in what the opposition say is an attempt to silence critics ahead of next year's presidential poll.

Last week, two journalists from the Daily News were arrested while reporting on the killing of prominent Bulawayo war veteran Cain Nkala. The newspaper's editor and owner were also recently arrested on fraud charges but later released. Three foreign correspondents have already been expelled from Zimbabwe this year. The BBC was banned from the country in July.

"The government is just shooting itself in the foot, by banning us and muzzling us they pass up the opportunity to put their side of the story to the world," one foreign journalist who now has to report on Zimbabwe by going undercover as a tourist, told IRIN.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the High Commission had lodged an official complaint over the "terrorist" slur.
"This is in clear breach of the Abuja agreement which specifically referred to Zimbabwe's commitment to the freedom of expression," he said, referring to September's deal signed in the Nigerian capital.

A former foreign correspondent operating in Zimbabwe told IRIN that reporting from the Southern African country had become increasingly dangerous. "I was assaulted in a police station by government supporters while the police looked on. There is absolutely no security there for journalists," the journalist said.

Foreign journalists trying to cover the crisis in Zimbabwe have been frustrated by a new state ruling that means reporters have to apply a month in advance for accreditation. "Even when we follow the new guidelines our applications are just turned down," a Johannesburg-based Scandinavian television journalist told IRIN.

The Windhoek-based Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) said labelling journalists as terrorists was both unfounded and unfair, and would create an environment in which war veterans and other government supporters could feel free to harass and beat journalists.

Other correspondents approached by IRIN expressed frustration and fear when asked how they planned to cover the upcoming presidential election.

"At the moment all we can do is report clandestinely, but that will get more dangerous as election time approaches. Killing a foreign journalist as an example is something we all think is a possibility," said a British broadsheet reporter from Johannesburg.