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afrol News, 12 September - There are concerns over the new trends to limit press freedom in Sierra Leone. One independent newspaper - the 'African Champion' - has been closed by the government and the media council is refusing to give a broadcasting licence to a privately-owned radio station. The 'African Champion' newspaper, a privately-owned daily, was ordered to close down indefinitely on 31 August by the country's High Court. Its managing editor, Mohamed D. Koroma, was banned from any "editorial function" in any newspaper in the country. In March, the Independent Media Commission (IMC) had already ordered the paper to close for two months. Mr Koroma responded that he would challenge the legality of the ban and continue bringing out the paper. However, the Freetown High Court confirmed the IMC decision. Mr Koroma was criticised for having published an article headed "Kabbah stinks in dubious deal again," in which he pointed to a corruption affair involving President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's son, allegedly protected by his father. At the end of August, the IMC also refused an operating licence to 'West Africa Democracy Radio' (WADR) for reasons of "national security" and "public safety." The station wanted to broadcast on short-wave nationwide and in other countries of the Mano River Union (Liberia and Guinea). The IMC says Sierra Leone had been destabilised in the past by groups based in these two countries. The apparent worsening of press freedom in Sierra Leone has caused concern among international media watchdogs. The French group Reporters sans frontières (RSF) today expressed its concern in a statement. RSF Secretary-general Robert Ménard criticised these actions taken by the Independent Media Commission, "yet this is the body supposed to be protecting freedom of information, not restricting it." Mr Ménard, in a letter to Sierra Leonean Information Minister Septimus Kaikai, wrote that: "The problems is, the IMC is not independent at all and makes decisions in the interests of the government." He further called on the Minister to take all necessary steps to see that licences were granted to all privately-owned stations that requested one and to ensure that the closed newspaper "was able to reopen as soon as possible." According to RSF's 2002 annual report, the situation of the press in Sierra Leone was rapidly improving last year. For the first time since 1996, no journalists had been killed in Sierra Leone during the year. "Yet the political and economic context in which the independent press is managing to survive is still very difficult," RSF warned.
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