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afrol News, 28 November - The Canadian development agency CIDA recently extended its funding of the Sierra Leonean peace process to support "free press" institutions reporting on and from Sierra Leone, including Internet media. - A free press can be a major support of peacebuilding and reconciliation in war-torn countries such as Sierra Leone, where ten years of war destroyed its independent media, CIDA reports. Although media freedom is relatively well assured in the government held areas of Sierra Leone, national media are having a hard time re-establishing themselves. According to CIDA, finding neutral and easily accessible information in Sierra Leone "is very difficult". Local journalists are often intimidated by the RUF rebels, and to a lesser degree by the Freetown government. CIDA recently announced it is funding two programs to remedy the poor access to information in Sierra Leone. One is helping re-establish the newspaper industry, train editors, journalists and broadcasters, and strengthen journalists' associations. Sierra Leone Web, "the most objective and largest site offering in-depth news and information, will receive funding for a paid staff member, expanding the site, and upgrading technology and hardware," CIDA informed. Sierra Leone Web so far has been maintained by Peter C. Andersen alone. According to the French media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), the media situation in Sierra Leone remains troublesome. In an October letter addressed to Sierra Leonean President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, RSF expressed its concern for the safety of local journalists. Kabbah was asked to take concrete measures to ensure that journalists can work freely and safely. "Journalists cannot do good work in a context of fear and incessant threats" declared Robert Ménard, the general secretary of RSF. "It is the duty of the authorities to ensure the security of journalists in order to maintain the diffusion of pluralistic and independent information" added Mr. Ménard. RSF reported of several incidents were the Sierra Leonean media had been harassed and intimidated by the RUF, the government and even by UN peacekeepers. As peace slowly is returning to Sierra Leone and almost the entire country is under government or UN control, the media situation is however improving rapidly. Death treats against journalists are now seldom. Only in January 1999, rebels from the RUF had murdered at least eight media professionals.
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