Best Advice for Emerging Africa: Let Freedom Ring
After leaders from more than 40 African countries gathered for President Obama's historic summit, we should not forget that free speech and a free press are economic development issues, too.
That message emerged as an important theme in a panel on press freedoms that I was asked to moderate during the non-governmental events that led up to the summit. The panel was cosponsored by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, of which I happen to be a board member.
But I also thought about some of the Africans who were not there, especially those who were sitting in a prison somewhere for the alleged "crime" of doing their jobs as journalists.
Ethiopian photojournalist Aziza Mohamed, for example, had been in custody in the Addis Ababa police headquarters without charges since mid-July, when she was arrested while covering Muslim protests.
Nine other journalists, including some from a popular Ethiopian blogging collective called Zone 9 (Motto: "We Blog Because We Care!") were jailed in mid-April under that country's overly broad anti-terrorism law.
Ethiopia is the second worst jailer of journalists in the continent, according to CPJ, with at least 17 journalists incarcerated, including Aziza. Eritrea leads with 22, which is an estimate since the government won't reveal their locations or conditions.
Egypt shocked the world when it sentenced three Al Jazeera journalists to between seven and 10 years in prison, again for doing their jobs.
In mid-July, a court in Swaziland sentenced editor Bheki Makhubu to two years in prison for articles in his magazine criticizing the kingdom's chief justice.
An email to me from his wife, Fikile Makhubu, ended, "Please don't allow the ink to dry up. Don't take the pen away."
With those tragedies in mind, the Africa summit reminded me of salesmen at a big auto show: They might not sell you a car but they want to alert you to the possibilities -- and stir your imagination.
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