By Aljazeera
Press freedom groups have
demanded answers from the Tanzanian government following contradicting
statements by the country's foreign minister about the fate of a
journalist who vanished two years ago.
Activists have accused President John Magufuli's government of cracking down on press freedom |
In an
interview with the BBC earlier this week, Palamagamba Kabudi, the
minister, said reporter Azory Gwanda had "disappeared and
died" somewhere in Rufiji, eastern Tanzania, without offering additional
details.
The
announcement was blasted by media watchdogs and activists who have long been
calling for transparency in the case, prompting apparent backtracking by Kabudi on Thursday.
"The
reference I made on Azory Gwanda contextually did not mean that Azory Gwanda is
confirmed dead. To date, the government of Tanzania has no confirmation on
whether Azory is dead or alive," a government statement quoted Kabudi as
saying.
In
a statement on Thursday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
criticised Kabudi's "casual reference" and accused the government
"of displaying a lack of consideration in its handling of the case".
"After
a year and a half of silence and then downplaying the journalist's
disappearance, the minister announces his death without explanation,"
RSF's Africa representative, Arnaud Froger, told AFP news agency.
"The flippancy with which the Tanzanian authorities have handled this case illustrates the low regard they have for the safe exercise of free and independent journalism."
"The flippancy with which the Tanzanian authorities have handled this case illustrates the low regard they have for the safe exercise of free and independent journalism."
The
United States-based Committee to Protect Journalists, meanwhile, called the
minister's remarks "wholly inadequate and distressing" and urged the government to immediately make public all the
information it has about Gwanda's fate.
Gwanda, a
reporter for the Mwananchi and The Citizen newspapers, disappeared
while reportedly investigating a series of murders of police and local
officials in Kibiti, in the Rufiji district of the Pwani region.
According
to his wife, Gwanda disappeared on November 21, 2017, after leaving in a white
Toyota Land Cruiser with unknown people on an "emergency trip".
He
promised to return the following evening but was never seen again.
The
government of President John Magufuli has been roundly
criticized by press-freedom groups and local rights
organisations for attempting to stifle media freedom in Tanzania.
The
government denies the allegations.
Last year, 65 civil-society organisations
wrote
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