Search
  1. Home
  2. Southern Africa
  3. Angola
  • News

Journalist detained in crackdown

    JOHANNESBURG

    An Angolan journalist was questioned by police on Monday, the latest victim of the government's crackdown on independent reporting of the war by the private media.

    Gilberto Neto was detained on Friday for 12 hours and returned on Monday for further questioning, a journalist at his newspaper 'Folha 8' told IRIN. Neto was summoned by police because of the newspaper's coverage of the arrest of 10 journalists last month for broadcasting an interview
    with UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, news reports said.

    Angola's communications minister, Hendrik Vaal Neto, earlier this year warned newspapers and radio stations that they faced closure if they did not take a patriotic stance when reporting on the country's civil war.

    "You have to be a nationalist before being a journalist," he reportedly said.

    "The problem is the declaration by the minister of information," an independent journalist told IRIN on Monday. "It's very, very dangerous now to report on the situation of the war, the situation of corruption, the situation of business."

    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

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join