Azory Gwanda who is said to be dead |
Nairobi, KENYA
The Committee to Protect Journalists
today called on the Tanzanian government to provide a detailed public account
of the fate of freelance journalist Azory Gwanda after the country's foreign
minister, Palamagamba Kabudi, said in an interview that the journalist is dead.
In an interview with
the BBC's "Focus on Africa" program today, Kabudi said that Gwanda
had "disappeared and died" in the country's eastern Rufiji region,
and said that the government has since "been able to contain that kind of
extremism" in the region.
Gwanda
went missing on November 21, 2017, after investigating mysterious killings and
disappearances in his community, and the Tanzanian government has never
delivered a promised investigation into his case, according to CPJ research.
Tanzania foreign minister, Palamagamba Kabudi |
"For a year and a half,
Azory Gwanda's family and the Tanzanian media have pleaded with the government
to explain what happened to their loved one and colleague," said CPJ
Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney from New York. "Then suddenly the
foreign minister mentions, almost in passing, that the journalist is apparently
dead. This is wholly inadequate and distressing. The government must
immediately share publicly all information it has about Gwanda's fate."
Kabudi told the BBC that the
Tanzanian government is not "proud" of the disappearances and
killings in Rufiji, which he said also took the lives of police officers and ruling
party officials, and said that the government was taking measures to make sure
that citizens and journalists are safe. However, CPJ research shows that impunity in
journalists' deaths or disappearances contributes to an environment that
fosters violence against journalists.
CPJ's phone calls today to
Kabudi and Tanzanian government spokesperson Hassan Abbass went unanswered.
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