Canadian reporter barred from entry

A Canadian journalist working for the Economist magazine has been refused re-entry into Uganda after authorities in the East African country questioned his past reporting. Blake Lambert, 34, told IRIN from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, that upon arrival from a short holiday on Thursday, he was briefly detained at Uganda's Entebbe Airport before he was put on the first flight out of the country. "When I arrived, I presented my passport for a visa, as the one I had had expired on 4 March. I was detained for about 40 minutes and later taken to a room where I found two men. This is where I found my passport already stamped that I am a persona-non-grata," Lambert said. "I was asked to board a Kenya Airways flight - the same plane that I used to come in - to Nairobi, where I am now. I was not given any reason for this action." For months, the Ugandan authorities had refused to renew the press accreditation of Lambert, who had lived in and reported about Uganda for the past three years. "Lambert is an unwanted person in Uganda," Robert Kabushenga, head of the government's Media Centre, told reporters on Friday. He accused the reporter of "consistent misrepresentation and misreporting of the situation in the country." Lambert also worked for the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Times and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Government sources said his critical reporting style upset senior officials already unhappy with the international coverage of the state's prosecution of opposition leader Kizza Besigye.