African journalists alarmed at rising attacks

Killings, harassment and the jailing of journalists have risen to an alarming level across Africa and could undermine the continent's drive for better governance. That was the key statement issued yesterday by the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Southern Africa and its East African counterpart. "In the past few months journalists working in Africa have been charged with espionage, murdered, harassed by government officials, and jailed for defamation and for publishing 'false news'," said the statement. It was prompted by the abduction and subsequent beheading of a respected Sudanese editor Mohammed Taha by unknown kidnappers. (Via IOL South Africa)