DATE=10/22/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SIERRA LEONE / MEDIA (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255376
BYLINE=JOE DE CAPUA
DATELINE=
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A report by the International League for Human
Rights says the end of the civil war in Sierra Leone
has not improved the situation of the country's
media. V-O-A's Joe De Capua says the human rights
group believes freedom of the press is in jeopardy.
TEXT: The report, entitled "Killer Bills and
Decrees," says during the eight-and-a-half-year civil
war, journalists were censored by the democratically
elected government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and
brutalized by rebels and military regimes.
However, the International League for Human Rights
says under the country's new government of national
unity journalists now face a different challenge.
Parliament is considering a measure called the
Independent Media Bill. Kakuna Kerina is the league's
African Program Director.
/// KERINA ACT ///
Despite its title, it's far from being an
independent media bill. What it does is offer
mechanisms and actually creates an institution,
the Independent Media Commission, whose sole job
is to restrict the media.
/// END ACT ///
The report says the commission would be empowered to
suspend or revoke newspaper licenses and to fine
journalists who do not prove the truth in their
stories to the panel's satisfaction. It says
journalists could be imprisoned if they are not able
to pay a fine. What's more, the commission's
decisions could not be appealed in court.
Ms. Kerina says the lack of a free press had a
profound effect on the civil war and the peace
process.
/// KERINA ACT ///
One of the tragedies of the war and one of the
factors that prolonged this war was that, for
the most part, the large majority of the
population was cut off from one, the capital,
and two, any important information about what
was going on in that country. And then also,
when it was time to make informed decisions,
there wasn't the kind of information that they
needed to be able to do so.
/// END ACT ///
The League has made a number of recommendations it
says are needed to achieve long-term peace in Sierra
Leone. It says future aid to the country must be
linked to a free press. And it says much of that aid
should be distributed directly to local non-
governmental organizations to avoid corrupt government
officials. It also says local groups are better in
touch with the needs of the people.
The human rights group is also calling for
international support for a U-N peacekeeping force in
Sierra Leone, vocational training for civilians
wounded in the war, and better psychiatric care for
former child soldiers.
Finally, the International League for Human Rights
says the United States and other Western nations
should respond to crises in Africa with the same speed
and resources as they have in Kosovo and East Timor.
(Signed)
NEB/SFM/KL
22-Oct-1999 14:18 PM EDT (22-Oct-1999 1818 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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