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The indigenous human rights advocacy group, Iteka, expressed concerned on Thursday over the transitional government's restriction of civil liberties in Burundi.
In a statement, Iteka expressed concern at "the tendency" of the government to try to achieve this objective by intimidating the media.
Iteka cited the case of a meeting held by journalists on 16 May at which the state prosecutor and the defence minister had issued "threats".
During the meeting, the prosecutor banned Radio Publique Africaine from reporting on investigations into the November 2001 killing of the World Health Organisation's head of operations in Burundi, Dr Kassi Manlan, Iteka reported. The defence minister, for his part, had ordered journalists to desist form interviewing Burundi rebels while ceasefire negotiations were in progress.
Iteka said prohibiting coverage of investigations into Manlan’s death stimulated the phenomenon of impunity that was "eroding" Burundi society.
It added that the ban on interviewing rebels failed to conform to press laws or the journalistic code of ethics, whose principal mission was to inform the public on the ceasefire negotiations. Iteka, therefore, demanded that the government revise all the injunctions imposed at the 16 May meeting, that it allow the media to inform the public freely on the peace process, and that it permit all the protagonists in the conflict to express themselves freely.
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
