Journalists' association calls for unbanning of periodical

The Burundi Journalists' Association (BJA) appealed to the state-run media regulatory body, the National Communication Council (NCC), on Friday to lift the ban imposed on a Bujumbura periodical for publishing what the NCC described as extremist and subversive material. In its appeal, the BJA termed Thursday's ban on Panafrika as deplorable, "given the fact that this monthly newspaper was practically the only remaining privately owned newspaper that had resumed publication", Net Press, a local news agency, reported. The NCC imposed the ban, because, it said, the newspaper had carried a lengthy interview with a politician who had advocated threats, violence and chaos. In addition, the NCC said, Panafrika had shown bias in favour of a particular ethnic group in order to exploit ethnic fears, set Burundians against one another, stir up hatred, and drive people and some state institutions into the throes of anarchy. "It would appear that the NCC dealt with the case with a certain degree over-zealousness, inasmuch as the relevant authorities have not officially objected to the offending article," Net Press quoted the BJA's statement as saying. Hutu militias have, for the last nine years, been trying to overthrow the Tutsi-led army and the power-sharing transitional government of Hutus and Tutsis, which was inaugurated on 1 November 2001. In neighbouring Rwanda, where similar ethnic dynamics were at play eight years ago, a hate radio was used to fuel the genocide of some 800,000 and Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.