African Media and Conflict
By Abiodun Onadipe and David Lord
Part Four - In Their Own Words
The Conflict in Sierra Leone and its Effects on the Media - By Umaru Fofana
The media in Sierra Leone has been in a constant state of flux. Journalists suffered untold hardships even before the outbreak of the war in March 1991. However, the civil war worsened the situation beyond all imagination. A brief review of the parlous situation is pertinent for the current purposes.
As a direct result of increasing unemployment, there has been a mushrooming in the number of newspapers in Sierra Leone, the profession of journalism appears to have reached saturation point. The exact number of newspapers in the country is hard to determine, but it cannot be less than 50.
The late introduction of mass communication as an academic pursuit in the country, in 1992, underlines the fact that more than 80 per cent of practising journalists in Sierra Leone are untrained and unqualified. Many of them are secondary school dropouts.
Also, the proliferation of newspapers in the country has affected street corner sales of newspapers considerably. There is hardly a newspaper house that can boast of sales of over 2,000 copies per edition (many are biweekly or very irregular). Advertisements are hard to obtain, except during national festivals or holidays.
Consequently, some newspaper houses have gone under while others have embarked on various forms of unprofessional conduct to keep their papers alive. These include smearing people's character with the view to being asked by the victims to help ‘control the damage’. In fact, many press houses have staff members, including reporters, who are not on the payroll. In effect, these reporters are asked indirectly to compromise their ethics to keep body and soul together. Not surprisingly, the public is losing, if it has not already lost, respect for journalists.
In Freetown, which hosts all the newspapers in the country, there are only three printing presses -- For Di People, Central Printing Company (CPC) and John Love.
Among the 50-odd newspapers, only three have fax machines, these are Concord Times, Punch and For Di People. Reporters in the provinces find it very difficult to dispatch news items to Freetown. They rely mainly on commercial bus drivers for the conveyance. This is because of the poor communication system in the provinces. For provincial stringers for foreign media organisations, the situation is a lot more difficult. Prior to the latest round of violence in Sierra Leone, there was not a single accessible fax machine in the Northern provincial headquarter-town of Makeni, while the country's second city, Bo, had just one such facility. About 30 per cent of newspaper houses are without a computer, while about 90 per cent of journalists cannot use the computer at all. In brief, Sierra Leonean journalists are mainly ‘stark computer illiterates.’
There are four radio stations in the country. Three of them are privately owned, while the fourth is government-owned. The private stations are The Voice of the Handicapped (VOH FM 96.2), Radio Democracy (98.1 FM) and KISS 104 FM based in Bo. The government-owned station is the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS), which is received on both FM and SW bands. Only one of these stations is received country-wide. In fact, two stations -- FM 98.1 and FM 96.2 -- cannot even be heard across Freetown, let alone in the provinces.
Electricity, or the lack of it, is one major problem besetting all sectors of life in Sierra Leone, including journalism. With the incessant power-cuts by the National Power Authority, most papers have been unable to publish on their regular days. This is because only one newspaper has its own private generator.
As if the above problems are not enough to contend with, journalists in Sierra Leone have another major problem -- government. There has been no love-lost between the media -- mainly the press -- and various Sierra Leone governments. However, since the start of the on-going rebel war in 1991 which, was worsened by the military coup of May 25 1997, members of the Fourth Estate have had a very tough time with the authorities. Journalists have been arrested on such flimsy grounds as publishing "alarming" news items, not incorrect items.
The trouble for journalists began immediately the first shots of the civil war were fired in Kailahun District. In July 1991, the proprietor and editor of the Vision newspaper, Siaka Massaquoi, was arrested and roughed up for publishing the anthem of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Fifteen armed men ransacked his office and took away various items. Massaquoi was later arrested and detained by members of the Military Intelligence Branch.
Amidst a very tense atmosphere, owing to the escalation of the conflict in the country, the Vision published a front-page story about soldiers who ran away on hearing the sound of an exploding tyre. The editor was again arrested and his office looted by armed men. He was detained for eight days and charged with "seditious libel." The charges were later dropped for lack of evidence.
Cherinoh Ojuku Sesay, editor of the Pool, was arrested in the early stages of the war for publishing a map of Sierra Leone indicating areas that the RUF rebels controlled. In 1992, some journalists, including the current president of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Frank Kpsowa, were arrested and taken to the front line against their will. The reason given then by the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) government was that the journalists were reporting on the war in a manner that was not in the government’s interest. The journalists were reportedly subjected to all forms of inhuman treatment.
Another case was the arrest of three journalists from Expo Times, arguably one of the best newspapers in the country, which is now self-proscribed. The three men -- editor and publisher Seaga Shaw, acting editor A. Charles Roberts and general editor Gibrill Gbanabom Koroma -- were arrested and detained for publishing an article that referred to the late Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha, as a "Wild West Gangster".
On May 25, 1997, some junior officers of the Sierra Leone Army staged a coup which ousted the elected government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. One of the reasons they gave for the coup was that the elected government was on the verge of passing a nasty press bill. For instance, the bill proposed that newspaper editors must have 10 years working experience as a journalist; five of which must have been in a senior position.
The government of the military junta, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) led by Major Johnny Paul Koromah, turned out to be a living horror story for Sierra Leoneans, especially journalists. Although no journalist is reported to have been killed during their nine-month reign, many were arrested and literally locked up in freight containers with no ventilation. Beatings and other forms of torture became commonplace. Here is a brief catalogue of the gruesome events of this period.
A pregnant woman, Rachael Gbagray, who was a secretary at The Democrat, was arrested during a raid on the newspaper's offices in August 1997. She was beaten up and detained, only to die of her injuries shortly after being released. The raid on the newspaper's offices was carried out on the alleged grounds that The Democrat was working with the Kamajors, a local militia fighting against the AFRC junta. Nothing incriminating or subversive was found.
On August 18, while covering the pro-democracy student rally, the Voice of America (VOA) stringer, Kelvin Lewis, was arrested, beaten up and had his car commandeered by junta forces. He spent 48 hours in prison and sought sanctuary with the regional peacekeeping force ECOMOG at Jui on his release.
Paul Kamara, proprietor and editor of For Di People newspaper, had his offices raided on countless occasions. After the last raid the newspaper was left with none of its computers and fax machine. In February 1996, Kamara had been shot by a hit-squad believed to be acting on orders from the very top during the NPRC reign. He had to be flown overseas by philanthropists to avoid amputating his leg.
In November 1998, the only female newspaper editor then in the country, Dorothy Awoonor-Gordon, was arrested at her home and detained for days on accusation that she had published an article which revealed the names of journalists that had allegedly been marked for death. Incidentally my name was on the list.
Gibril Foday Musa, editor of New Tablet went into hiding when armed men raided his offices for publishing an article critical of the AFRC junta. He later resurfaced in Liberia.
A freelance journalist, Abdul Kpsowa, was arrested, tortured and detained at the Pademba Road Prison for almost 20 days on allegations of passing on information to the then-exiled government. He had the skin of the soles of his feet removed in the most gruesome manner. Another BBC stringer, Sylvester Rogers, was forced into hiding by AFRC/RUF soldiers, leaving his pregnant wife behind. He stayed in hiding for 92 days. His wife gave birth to twins who died because of poor medical attention without him setting eyes on them.
Jonathan Leigh, another VOA stringer, and editor of the Independent Observer, was also arrested in October and gravely tortured. He sustained injuries from rifle butts, kept incommunicado and later detained at the notorious SS camp with hard labour. He later managed to flee to Banjul, Gambia, where he is now resident. Jon Foray, editor of New Storm, spent 48 hours in prison with hard labour. He was mercilessly beaten and tortured for supporting a faction other than the AFRC military junta. He was later released but was left with a serious physical disability evident in the way he walked.
On April 12, 1998, a colleague working for BBC, Eddie Smith, was killed in an ambush staged by remnants of the AFRC/RUF. We could not find his body in order to arrange a fitting funeral. Eddie Smith was one of Sierra Leone's finest and most courageous reporters on the war. May his soul and those of all other departed colleagues around the world, rest in peace.
On October 9, 1997, I had my own personal experience. After an air raid on the Sierra Leone Military Headquarters by ECOMOG forces, the private home of President Tejan Kabbah was set ablaze by soldiers loyal to the AFRC military junta. The junta claimed that the burning was carried out by angry youths.
As a young and curious stringer for the BBC, I decided to visit the burnt-out house to file an eyewitness account of the damage. At the house, which was close to the Juba military barracks, I was accosted by irate soldiers. I was arrested and accused of being a reporter for the clandestine 98.1 FM pro-democracy radio. They started slapping and hitting me in the head with rifle butts and helmets. One of them restrained the others from continuing the beating. He asked me in Krio, the local parlance, whether I had filmed the burned out house. I protested to no avail. At this point they demanded to know my name. I hesitated before telling them. They seized my file from me to cross-check. As I was being dragged to their nearby check-point, one of them said in Krio: "Aha! He is that BBC reporter who says all bad things about us." Unfortunately, my file contained a copy of my newspaper, Vision, in which I had written an article titled "AFRC's Political Masturbation", with my by-line.
Seconds later I heard two gunshots. It took a while before I realised that I had been shot in my right leg -- the tibia bone was fractured. I couldn't walk any longer and so decided to hop on my left leg. They started hitting me again with their rifle butts and helmets. I fell several times, but was forced to get up as they kicked me with their boots. I managed to hop until we reached their check-point. The others that were manning the post joined in the beating. I can vividly remember one of them attempting to pull his trigger on me when a sergeant stopped him, saying: "Don't kill him yet. He has some vital information to pass on to us."
As they busied themselves going through my diary, the arrival of an Army major, who identified me as a journalist, saved me from having my eyes gouged out. He ordered that I should be taken to the hospital. The soldiers commandeered a passing white Mercedes Benz car and placed me in the boot, where two men who introduced themselves as the ‘People's Army’ (RUF rebels) joined me. They drove me to the house of former head of state J.S. Momoh, who is believed to have been an active participant in the AFRC junta.
While there, my back was burnt with lit polyethylene bags, as the soldiers and their rebel colleagues continued beating me. In one instance, a rebel soldier ordered me to open my mouth. He inserted his genitals into my mouth and urinated, sealed my lips and repeatedly hit me in the head until I swallowed the urine.
I was later taken to a military hospital where I was literally abandoned for almost two days. On the third day, I was given a toxic injection, which, you may imagine, I thought would be lethal. However, I was transferred in time to the government’s Connaught hospital, where I was in the safe hands of the French non-governmental organisation Medecin Sans Frontiers (MSF).
While the majority of us were facing the brutality of the AFRC junta, some of our colleagues were busy dining with them. The consequences of that have been far-reaching. One of the best-known newspapers in the country has proscribed itself. The paper, Expo Times, acted contrary to the stance taken by the SLAJ that no journalist should have anything to do with the AFRC, including not recognising the junta. Expo Times blatantly supported the junta, thereby endangering the lives of colleagues, who stood by the association's directive. Consequently, when the junta was flushed out in February 1998, Expo Times staff went into hiding.
Other newspapers which faced similar situations include: Torchlight, Pool, We Yone, New Citizen and New Life. A private radio station, WBIG 1O3 FM, owned by the famous disc jockey and popular broadcaster Hilton Fyle, was destroyed by irate youths. Fyle was arrested and detained and currently faces treason trial charges. The proprietor of the New Citizen, Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, is also in a similar position.
SLAJ is a house divided against itself. Currently, there is a court case involving SLAJ president Frank Kpsowa on the one hand and the Managing Editor, Foday Fafana, and the Editor-in-Chief, Alusine Fofana, of the Star on the other hand. The case came about after the Star claimed that Kpsowa was a core AFRC junta supporter. This case has been viewed by some members of the public in a paternalistic manner, while others believe that it is a bad precedent which will leave the courts flooded with cases between journalists.
It is evident that there is a need for the profession to completely over-haul its system. First and foremost perhaps is for proprietors and managers of newspapers to shed their selfish tendencies. They should treat their staff -- including reporters -- as partners in the business. A clearly defined salary scale and other benefits should be put in place. They should also give their staff the facility to enrol at journalism schools to train and upgrade their professional skills.
Certainly, there is room for the excesses of the press to be curbed or controlled. But just who should that responsibility be entrusted to? Surely it cannot be the government, which is bound to try to ensure that the press does not publish or broadcast anything that is not in its interest. But can it be the journalists’ association, which has its internal divisions and disputes? One thing is clear: It is rather unfortunate that journalists have launched themselves into civil conflicts.
This scenario has considerably affected the media. Some of our colleagues are in prison facing treason charges, while some have fled the country. Their media houses have been shut down, leaving many staff members unemployed.
It is an incontrovertible fact that in moments of national crisis, truth becomes so precious that it is often shrouded in the dark and replaced with falsehood. In 1991, the war in the Gulf was deliberately under-reported. This was so because reporting it exactly as it happened, would have undermined the goal set for the Allied Forces, which was to stop Iraqi aggression. Somewhat similarly, the situation in my country is such that people are calling for press censorship. This may be attributed to the fact that some of our colleagues resort to extreme sensationalism and radicalism to enable their papers to survive the fierce competition.
They distort facts and even concoct stories to achieve this goal. Consequently, the reinstated government asked journalists and media houses to cross-check their stories on ECOMOG’s ‘mopping up operations of rebels’ with the forces’ press officers in Freetown before publishing. However, this directive has been mostly observed in the breach, as most papers, including the one I work for, are still publishing stories on the war without prior checking with the authorities concerned. Surely, something should be done, but what? While one basic test for the journalist is for the writer or editor to ask whether a story in question serves the interest of the people, that does not seem to be enough.
Lastly, the press in the sub-region, particularly in Sierra Leone and Liberia, should play a leading role in smoothing bilateral and multilateral relations. No one can downplay the fact that the governments of Liberia and Sierra Leone are currently in a frosty relationship over the events during the coup period. The two countries' media should give advice to their governments and facilitate cordial relationship between SLAJ and the Press Union of Liberia.
Umaru Fofana is Associate Editor of The Vision newspaper, based in Freetown, Sierra Leone
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