available.
IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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UPDATE - RWANDA
15 June 2007
Newspaper's perceived ties to neighbouring Uganda may have precipitated
closure
SOURCE: Media Institute, Nairobi
**Updates previous IFEX alert of 15 June 2007**
(Media Institute/IFEX) - The Rwanda government on 6 June 2007 ordered the
closure of the privately owned "Weekly Post" for unknown reasons.
A letter explaining the deregistration on the week-old newspaper by
Information Minister Laurent Nkusi said: "After circumspect investigations
of the information you had provided when you applied for the registration
of an English newspaper, 'The Weekly Post', of the Rwanda Media Holdings
Limited Company, I regret to inform you that the acknowledgement receipt
No. 789/03.10 of 15 May 2007, which allowed you to publish the aforesaid
newspaper, is from today, 6 June 2007, cancelled."
An acknowledgement receipt is issued before a newspaper is allowed to
operate in Rwanda and "The Weekly Post" had received one on 2 May.
This newspaper was started by journalists who had been sacked or who
resigned from the state-run "The New Times", the only newspaper in the
country.
They include Sulah Nuwamanya, a former "New Times" editor in charge of
upcountry news and the chief executive of the banned weekly publication
printed in neighbouring Uganda by the government-owned "The New Vision".
Prof. Nkusi told MI correspondents on 11 June that, "at the moment there is
no answer I can give for (the closure)."
The newspaper's CEO also confirmed to MI that he had not been given any
reasons.
"We are sure there is no reason at all because we fully complied with the
law," Nuwamanya said.
"Our company (Rwanda Media Holdings) is fully registered and has a
commercial registration certificate from the Registrar of Companies. Among
the activities of the company is the publication of the newspaper. Our
statute is fully notified with a public notary," he added.
He said that after obtaining the commercial registration certificate and
newspaper project proposal, "we fully applied to the Ministry of
Information in the Prime Minister's Office, which, by press law, is the one
supposed to register newspapers".
Among the requirements to run a newspaper in Rwanda is an application
letter showing the editorial line and the initial capital, format,
language, a company statute, a newspaper project proposal, and proof that
the managing director and editor of the paper have never been imprisoned.
The company had also submitted its profile.
The publication's application was processed within a week and an
acknowledgement receipt from the ministry allowing "The Weekly Post"
registration and operation issued.
Independent sources in Rwanda claimed the newspaper was closed because
Rwandan authorities feared it was linked to neighboring Uganda, where the
founders, thought to be Rwandese, originate. Relations between the two
countries remain strained since the clash of their armies in Democratic
Republic of Congo.
The High Council of the Press in Rwanda is responsible for regulating the
media industry, though it does not register newspapers.
Freedom of the press in Rwanda has been precarious since the 1994 genocide
in which an estimated one million people were killed.
The Media Institute is a freedom of expression organization based in
Nairobi, Kenya.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Send appeals to the information minister:
- protesting the closure of the newspaper
APPEALS TO:
Prof. Laurent Nkusi
Minister of Information
Prime Minister's Office
Tel: +250 083 024 02
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
For further information, contact Director David Makali or Programs Director
Kodi Barth, Media Institute, mailing address: P.O. Box 46356, 00100
Nairobi, Kenya, street address: College Hse, 2/F, Koinange Street, Nairobi,
Kenya, tel: +254 721 878844, e-mail: mediainst@wananchi.com, Internet:
http://www.kenyanews.com
The information contained in this update is the sole responsibility of the
Media Institute. In citing this material for broadcast or publication,
please credit the Media Institute.
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