rwanda: First issue of new independent newspaper seized

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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ALERT - RWANDA

23 April 2003

First issue of new independent newspaper seized

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

(RSF/IFEX) - On 23 April 2003, RSF protested the seizure of the weekly
"Indorerwamo"'s ("The Mirror") first issue and called on Internal Security
Minister Jean de Dieu Ntiruhungwa to return the seized copies of the
newspaper immediately.

"This prior censorship demonstrates that press freedom is not guaranteed in
Rwanda," said Robert Ménard, the organisation's secretary-general, in a
letter to the minister. "Rwanda's press law does not require prior
authorisation to launch a new publication, only a written declaration, which
'Indorerwamo' provided," Ménard noted.

Police seized all the copies of "Indorerwamo" on 22 April, when they arrived
from Uganda, at the border with Rwanda. Like most Rwandan publications, the
weekly is published in Uganda, where printing costs are cheaper. Copies of
other newspapers were allowed in without incident.

"Indorerwamo"'s representative, who was to take copies of the weekly to
Kigali, was detained by police for several hours. The copies of the weekly
were sent to police headquarters in Kigali. The paper's publisher, Ismael
Mbonigaba, told RSF that police had given no reason for the confiscation.

Mbonigaba was arrested on 22 January and imprisoned for five weeks for
writing in another independent publication, "Umuseso", that former prime
minister Faustin Twagiramungu would stand against President Paul Kagame in
the next presidential election (see IFEX alerts of 3 March and 25 February
2003).

The "Umuseso" article was accompanied by a caricature of Kagame, represented
as King Solomon, holding the hand of a baby representing the Democratic
Republican Movement (Mouvement démocratique républicain, MDR, a political
party that is part of the ruling coalition) and a sword in his other hand.
Two other people were shown tugging at him and pestering him about how to
handle the MDR. The caricature suggested that Kagame is the arbiter of the
party's divisions and that he alone can decide its future.

RSF recalls that President Kagame is included on the organisation's list of
international press freedom predators.

For further information, contact Jean-François Julliard at RSF, rue Geoffroy
Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.rsf.org

The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of RSF.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.
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