Africa: World's Media Chiefs Press African Leaders on Freedoms
Cape Town — Editors and publishers from across the world have singled out the governments of Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa and Swaziland for threatening free expression and media freedom. At a meeting in Cape Town this week, the general assembly of the International Press Institute (IPI) - a global network of editors, media executives and journalists - adopted resolutions which called on: The Ethiopian government to stop arresting journalists under anti-terrorism laws and to review its anti-terror statutes to protect freedom of the press; The Swazi government to release unconditionally the editor of The Nation, Bhekitemba Makhubu, and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, who have been arrested, released and re-arrested by a succession of judges, some with personal interests in their case, in recent weeks; The Egyptian government to end arrests of journalists under anti-terrorism laws; and South Africa's President Jacob Zuma to submit a new secrecy law for court revi