Share & more
The Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) protested on Wednesday the seizure of the first issue of a weekly newspaper by Rwandan police.
In a statement, RSF described the action as "censorship" saying that it was an indication that press freedom was not guaranteed in Rwanda.
RSF said it had written to the Rwandan interior minister, Jean de Dieu Ntiruhungwa, asking him to return the copies of "Indorerwama" (Kinyarwanda language for "The Mirror") to the publisher, journalist Ismael Mbonigaba.
RSF Secretary-General Robert Menard said police seized all the copies of the new publication on the border with Uganda. The newspaper was published in Kampala, Uganda.
Mbonigaba told RSF that police gave no reason for the seizure. He has had previous run-ins with authorities over articles he has written. He was arrested on 22 January and imprisoned for five weeks for writing in another publication, "Umuseso", that former Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu would run against Kagame in the next presidential election, scheduled for August 2003.
"Rwanda's press law requires no permission to start up a new publication, just a simple written declaration and Indorerwamo has provided this," Menard said.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions