MEDIA-SIERRA LEONE: Government Cracks Down On Journalists

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

Freetown, Dec 11 1998 (IPS) - Three Sierra Leonean journalists have been detained by state security for filing stories that “alarm” the public and “help” rebels in their campaign to overthrow the government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah.

The three — Winston Ojukutu Macauley and Sylvester Rogers of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Sulaiman Momodu of the independent tabloid ‘Concord Times’ — were picked up Tuesday after filing reports about renewed fighting in northern Sierra Leone, where troops loyal to the ousted military junta are battling it out with the forces of the West African Peacekeeping force ‘ECOMOG’ and their local militia allies.

Information and Broadcasting minister, Julius Spencer, told journalists on Wednesday that the detained journalists were picked up for violating official instructions on war reporting.

“They (journalists) reported unsubstantiated stories, without cross-checking with my ministry and with ECOMOG information office,” Spencer said. “The journalists would be charged in court for reporting alarming stories and in a way helping the enemy side.”

Macauley appeared before magistrate Naomi Tunis on Thursday to answer charges related to the “publications of false news likely to cause alarm, contrary to the Public Order Act Number 46 of 1965.”

He pleaded ‘not guilty’.

His colleagues, Rogers and Momodu are still being held by state security forces and may also be charged with similar offences.

The relations between the independent journalists and the government have not been smooth in the past two months. Last month, the government warned journalists to stop publishing “false and alarming stories” or face its wrath.

It carried out the threat after the office of the President issued a statement on Dec 7 ordering the arrest of all journalists who published “false and alarming” reports “in the past few days” making special reference to the ongoing conflict in the northern region.

“Propaganda can be lethal,” the statement read, adding that “the enemy is adept in using propaganda”, and that misleading reports aid the rebels in their “campaign of terror and destruction.”

ECOMOG also has complained about the negative press coverage of the war, which, it claims, is affecting its conduct of operations.

ECOMOG’s chief of defence staff, Gen Maxwell Khobe, hero of the liberation of Freetown in February, said Wednesday that troops loyal to the ousted military junta and their Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel allies, who are operating in the northern province, were being aided by press reports.

“The rebel fighters in Koinadugu district (in the north) had no links with other fighters in that region, but for reports broadcast on BBC, the fighters were able to locate each other, from various areas,” Khobe said.

“Leave us to do the job,” the General appealed to newsmen, at the Mayhung Officers Mess, west of Freetown.

The junta has vowed to march on the capital before Christmas (Dec 25) and unseat the government. The rebels also want a negotiated settlement to the conflict. But the government says the rebels must first lay down their weapons and surrender to ECOMOG before it could consider opening up dialogue with them.

Although the government and ECOMOG had ordered journalists to cross-check all war-related stories, a good number of editors have not been complying with the rules.

“Most journalists are sure to be roped in since newspapers here survive mainly on sensational stories, often related to the war,” Mike Sesay, a media analyst told IPS Friday.

The secretary general of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) David Tam Baryoh told IPS Friday that SLAJ is concerned about the detention of the three journalists. “We are liasing with the ministry of information, ECOMOG and the police, in the matter,” he said, adding that “we are obviously concerned about them.”