Author: djadmin

Algeria’s decision to revoke the accreditation of France 24 over its coverage of long-running pro-democracy protests signals the pressure that media in the North African country work under, analysts say.

The move against the French state-owned news outlet earlier this month comes amid tensions between the government and press over coverage of the pro-democracy Hirak Movement. The announcement came the day after legislative elections in which 70% of the electorate did not vote, according to data from the Algerian electoral authority.

The Hirak Movement protests began in early 2019, forcing former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign. But as protests calling for widespread reform continued, authorities cracked down on journalists who cover them or who criticize the government.

Media and human rights watchdogs say that journalists in Algeria frequently face harassment and arbitrary detention, and that access to several news websites has been blocked. Under a 2020 law, journalists risk up to five years in prison for undermining public order. A separate decree says news websites have to be based in the country and run by an Algerian national, Freedom House data shows.

Overall, the country’s press freedom record since 2018 has declined 10 places — falling to 146 out of 180 — on Reporters Without Borders (RSF) annual index.

In France 24’s case, Algeria’s Ministry of Communication said in a statement that its June 13 decision to revoke the accreditation was a response to the broadcaster’s “hostility” and “aggressiveness toward Algeria,” and added that the broadcaster had failed to “respect the rules of professional ethics, disinformation, and manipulation.”

The broadcaster had received a warning from the ministry in March related to its coverage of protests.

France 24 directed VOA to its statement shared with Agence France-Presse that read, “We cover Algerian news transparently, independently and honestly, as is the case with all countries we cover.”

As well as revoking a broadcaster’s credentials, Algeria this month detained two journalists — RSF correspondent Khaled Drareni and Maghred Emergent director Ihsane El-Kadi. Both have previously faced legal action over their reporting.

Drareni served almost a year in prison for “endangering national unity” and “inciting an unarmed gathering” while covering a protest. He was released on bail in February 2021.

The RSF correspondent says he thinks a meeting that he had with foreign journalists led to his arrest. Drareni told VOA that officials asked him “bizarre” questions about his work, life, and why he had met with foreign journalists who came to Algiers to cover the elections.

VOA attempted to seek comment from Algeria’s Ministry of Communications but received an automated email saying the mailbox is full. The country’s embassies in the U.S. and France did not respond to requests for comment.

Shrinking freedoms

Journalists who cover Algeria said that given the current climate for media in the country, the decision to revoke France 24’s accreditation was not surprising.

Adam Nossiter, the New York Times Kabul bureau chief who used to cover Algeria, said that the broadcaster being a French state-owned outlet adds another layer.

“They’re especially prickly toward the French. Their complicated colonial relationship with the French just also complicates whatever relations they have with French media,” Nossiter told VOA. “Critical coverage coming from French media is much more keenly felt in Algeria.”

Algeria was under French colonial rule until gaining independence in 1962 after a seven-year war, which remains a sensitive issue for both countries.

Mustapha Bendjama, editor-in-chief of Algerian opposition newspaper Le Provincial, said the recent incidents are indicative of declining media freedom across the country.

“The state does not tolerate that journalists and the media dare to have an editorial point of view that differs from the state’s version,” Bendjama said.

The journalist said he has also been arrested previously over coverage.

Journalists in Algeria, especially local media, face widespread harassment and the threat of arbitrary detention, says Justin Shilad, a senior Middle East and North Africa researcher at the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

“We’re seeing more and more journalists detained for longer periods of time and in greater numbers,” Shilad said. “At one point last month, authorities arrested at least 16 journalists who were covering the protests.”

The situation is leading to widespread self-censorship, said Akram Kharief, editor-in-chief for news website MENADEFENSE, which focuses on international defense and security.

Kharief said efforts to suppress the media include indirect pressure including financially via a loss in advertising revenue, and direct pressure, like revoking accreditation or arresting journalists.

“Since the beginning of this revolution in 2019, we have more and more pressure applied against the media,” Kharief said. “And we have a very strong decline in free speech in general.”

Foreign journalists in Algeria tend to have more leeway that their local counterparts, according to Nossiter.

“In the case of foreign media, if they’re really unhappy with you, they’ll just kick you out or revoke your accreditation,” Nossiter said. “They’re even harsher with local media. They throw them in jail.”

Drareni said that even if the treatment is different, the government’s objective is the same.

“In the same way that the government controls or tries to control the Algerian press, it also tries to control the foreign press,” Drareni said.

With limited coverage in state or official media of the protest movement and big issues including corruption and the economy, Algeria has seen a growth in independent outlets “specifically to fill the void,” said Shilad.

It would be incorrect to characterize the media as all being supportive of the protest movement, but Shilad said, “There is definitely an appetite in Algeria for critical reporting on corruption, the economy, and human rights, which are also issues that the Hirak protests have focused on.”

For journalists on the ground, there is determination to keep reporting.

“As long as there are online media and newspapers that continue to resist, in the face of censorship, in the face of pressure, in the face of threats, I am optimistic,” Drareni told VOA.

Source: Voice of America

Analysts say Turkey is expected to come under pressure to remove its military from Libya when world leaders gather Wednesday at a conference in Berlin. The meeting will include discussions on elections and the withdrawal of foreign forces from the war-torn north African country.

The Berlin conference is the second international meeting organized by Germany and the United Nations. Discussions will focus on permanently ending the Libyan civil war, and laying the groundwork for December elections.

A key goal of the gathering is the creation of a framework for the withdrawal of all foreign fighters, something Aya Burweila, a visiting lecturer at the Hellenic National Defense College, says is key to restoring stability in the country.

“Good governance is very difficult to establish in Libya. There are arms everywhere, there are militias everywhere. So, the presence of foreign powers really undermines that. Libyans want them all out. They want a normal country. Most of all, they want elections at the end of the year,” Burweila said.

Turkey deployed hundreds of soldiers and thousands of Syrian fighters in support of the Libyan Government of National Accord in its battle against forces of Libya’s General Khalifa Haftar, who is backed by Russian and Sudanese mercenaries.

A cease-fire is now in force.

While backing calls for the removal of foreign troops, Ankara says its presence is legitimate because it was invited by the internationally recognized government.

But with conference attendees, including EU members and the United States calling for the removal of all foreign troops, and Turkey seeking to improve ties with its western allies, international relations professor Serhat Guvenc of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University says Ankara will likely acquiesce, at least in part.

“Turkey will probably eventually come to the terms. They will take those foreign fighters from Libya, the Syrian fighters, the Turkish proxies [out],” Guvenc said.

A U.S. Defense Department report last year said Turkey sent thousands of paid Syrian fighters to Libya. Burweila said the mercenaries are among the most destabilizing forces in Libya.

“These Syrian mercenaries, their behavior in Libya, [is] very much similar to [their actions in] northeast Syria: Looting, sexual assaults, violence. There is something very jarring to natives seeing foreign men with arms driving around their streets with no accountability,” Burweila said.

Ankara denies such claims of misconduct.

Turkey’s wider military presence is also expected to come under pressure. The Turkish military constructed an airbase and wants to establish a naval base in Libya, a plan opposed by Egypt and France, which are also represented at the Berlin conference.

But Guvenc said Ankara sees its Libyan military presence as having strategic importance.

“Turkey has to keep a foot in Africa. That air force base in al Watiya in Libya offers tremendous opportunities in that regard. So, probably, Turkey will bargain very hard to keep that base,” Guvenc said.

Analysts say the Berlin conference sees Ankara working to balance its strategic goals of improving ties with its Western allies while expanding its influence in Africa.

Source: Voice of America

A report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council accuses the Eritrean government of involvement in Ethiopia’s conflict in the Tigray region and of committing serious human rights violations against Eritreans who have sought asylum in Tigray.

The special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, is new to the job, although in 2017 he was part of a U.N. monitoring team whose findings resulted in the imposition of sanctions on the country.

In this, his first report since he started his mandate in November, he pulled no punches. He presented a grim picture of a government that perpetrates gross human rights violations with impunity both at home and abroad.

“There are no tangible signs of progress or concrete evidence of improvement in the internal human rights situation in Eritrea. In addition, Eritrea extended its human rights violations extra-territorially or beyond its borders during this mandate and committed heinous human rights violations in the Tigray region of Ethiopia,” he said.

Babiker said he has received allegations that Eritrean troops in Tigray carried out deliberate attacks against civilians, summary executions, sexual and gender-based violence.

He said they also allegedly took part in the abduction and disappearance of Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers.

Babiker expressed particular concern about the reported destruction by Eritrean troops of two refugee camps in Hitsats and Shimelba in northern Tigray, which hosted more than 25,000 Eritrean refugees. The refugee camps are located near the two countries’ borders.

“I call on the Eritrean authorities to withdraw their forces from Tigray, to provide information about the whereabouts of the missing Eritrean refugees and to release any Eritrean refugees held in detention,” he said.

Turning to the situation inside Eritrea, Babiker said the only positive news he has to report is of the release of more than 100 Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Jehovah’s Witnesses who were detained without charges and trial, some for over 20 years.

He urged the government to release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who have been held incommunicado for indefinite periods under inhumane conditions.

In his response to Babiker, Ambassador Tesfamicael Gerahtu of Eritrea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs made no reference to an Eritrean troop presence in Ethiopia. He rejected the report, calling it politicized. He also called into question the legitimacy of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate and told the Council it should be abolished.

Source: Voice of America

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has visited war-weakened Burkina Faso to show solidarity with people who continue to welcome the displaced, despite grappling with their own insecurity, and said the world isn’t doing enough to help.

“The humanitarian crisis in the Sahel seems to me to be totally neglected. It is treated as being of little geopolitical importance,” Jolie told the Associated Press. “There’s a bias in the way we think about which countries and which people matter.”

While Burkina Faso has been battling a five-year Islamic insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State that’s killed thousands and displaced more than one million people, it is also hosting more than 22,000 refugees, the majority Malian.

As Special Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Jolie marked World Refugee Day on Sunday in Burkina Faso’s Goudoubo refugee camp in the Sahel, where she finished a two-day visit. She spoke with the camp’s Malian refugees and internally displaced people in the nation’s hard-hit Center-North and Sahel regions.

After 20 years of work with the U.N. refugee agency, Jolie told the AP the increasing displacement meant the world was on a “terrifying trajectory towards instability”, and that governments had to do something about the conflicts driving the vast numbers of refugees.

“Compared to when I began working with UNHCR twenty years ago, it seems like governments have largely given up on diplomacy … countries which have the least are doing the most to support the refugees,” she said.

“The truth is we are not doing half of what we could and should … to enable refugees to return home, or to support host countries, like Burkina Faso, coping for years with a fraction of the humanitarian aid needed to provide basic support and protection,” Jolie said.

Malians began fleeing to Burkina Faso in 2012 after their lives were upended by an Islamic insurgency, where it took a French-led military intervention to regain power in several major towns. The fighting has since spread across the border to Burkina Faso, creating the fastest growing displacement crisis in the world. Last month Burkina Faso experienced its deadliest attack in years, when gunmen killed at least 132 civilians in Solhan village in the Sahel’s Yagha province, displacing thousands.

The increasing attacks are stretching the U.N.’s ability to respond to displaced people within the country as well as the refugees it’s hosting.

“Funding levels for the response are critically low and with growing numbers of people forced to flee … the gap is widening,” UNHCR representative in Burkina Faso Abdouraouf Gnon-Konde told the AP.

The attacks are also exacerbating problems for refugees who came to the country seeking security.

“We insisted on staying (in Burkina Faso), (but) we stay with fear. We are too scared,” said Fadimata Mohamed Ali Wallet, a Malian refugee living in the camp. “Today there is not a country where there isn’t a problem. This (terrorism) problem covers all of Africa,” she said.

Source: Voice of America