Terror campaign against journalists in Uganda is affront to media freedom – African Editors
The African Editors Forum (TAEF) condemns the assault on journalists in Uganda by security agencies calling it a terror campaign.
In a press statement issued this week and obtained by ghanabusinessnews.com, TAEF, which is the biggest organization representing editors across Africa, says it deplores, in the strongest possible terms, the terror campaign unleashed on the media by law enforcement agencies in Uganda.
TAEF says it stands in solidarity with journalists and editors in Uganda, adding; “We fully support the stand taken by the Kenyan Editors Guild, the East African media fraternity as well as the media around the world who see the terror campaign as an affront to media freedom, freedom of and independence of the media.”
TAEF notes that in the past two weeks, Ugandan journalists have been attacked, brutalized, threatened by the security agencies in their country.
“We also strongly support the eight Ugandan journalists who were left with physical and psychological injuries and their equipment destroyed – just for doing their work,” the statement added.
The Forum called on the Ugandan government to rein in the security agencies and stop the reign of terror.
“We call on President Yoweri Museveni to commit himself and the government that he leads, to freedom of expression and of the press and media in general.
TAEF reminds President Museveni of, among others, the Table Mountain Declaration, the 1991 Windhoek Declaration, in its 25th anniversary year, and the 2002 Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa.”
We urge Uganda to renew its commitment to these principles and to act now to stop the attacks on the media and remove from its statuette books, laws that are inimical to media freedom,” the statement said.
Recently, protests erupted in an already tense country under the thumb of a dictator, following the arrest of Ugandan Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known as Bobi Wine, and security agencies responded with heavy-handedness.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi