Its sad to note that since the beginning of this year, we have already lost five journalists in Africa and A24 Media wishes to pay tribute to the following African journalists who lost their lives while speaking for the voiceless:
Hassan Mayow Hassan - Somalia - died January 1, 2009
Radio Shabelle reporter Hassan Mayow Hassan was gunned down by a member of a pro-government militia in Afgooye, 30 km south of Mogadishu. Hassan was with other journalists covering clashes between Islamist militants and armed groups that support the federal transitional government when, at about 10:50 a.m., he was accosted by a militiaman. After Hassan told him he was a journalist, the militiaman shot him twice in the head.
Francis Kainda Nyaruri - Kenya –died January 31, 2009
Reporter Francis Nyaruri was found decapitated and with his hands bound on Thursday in a forest in western Kenya. yaruri, who wrote for the private Weekly Citizen under the pen name Mong'are Mokua, had been missing since January 15, according to local journalists and relatives. Nyanza deputy police Chief Larry Kieng confirmed to reporters that Nyaruri's body was found in a thicket in Kodera Forest, Nyanza Province, on Thursday, decapitated with hands tied behind his back and marks on his body. Nyaruri's wife, Josephine Kwamboka, identified her husband at a Kisii hospital, according to local reports. Kieng said a team of senior officers had been dispatched to Nyamira to investigate the murder, the private daily The Standard reported. Prior to his disappearance, Nyaruri had written a series of articles that exposed financial scams and other malpractice by the local police department, local journalists told CPJ. The journalists said Nyaruri had told them of unspecified threats by police officers in the area for articles he had written in the Weekly Citizen. Nyaruri left his residence in Nyamira at about 7:30 am on January 15 and traveled 19 miles (30 kilometers) to Kisii to purchase construction materials, local journalists reported. Kwamboka told reporters that she had spoken to him at 11 a.m. the same day but did not hear from him again.
Said Tahlil Ahmed - Somalia –Died February 4 ,2009
Gunmen shot dead the head of private media house HornAfrik in Mogadishu. Said Tahlil Ahmed was killed in Mogadishu's Bakara market, which is often a battleground for government soldiers and Islamist insurgents, witnesses and colleagues said. "Two masked men armed with pistols turned into an alley and shot our friend Said dead," a local reporter, who was with him, told Reuters, asking not to be named. "They shot him several times in the heart and he died on the spot. We ran away for our lives as they kept shooting."
Ando Ratovonirina - Madagascar - died February 7, 2009
Ando Ratovonirina of privately-owned Radio et Télévision Analamanga (RTA) was shot dead while covering an anti-government demonstration outside the presidential palace in Antananarivo on 7 February 2009. The 25-year-old reporter and cameraman was among the scores of people who were killed or wounded when security forces opened fired on the
protesters. Ratovonirina was part of the RTA team covering a large demonstration organised by Antananarivo mayor Andry Rajoelina on 7 February to call for the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana's government. He was shot in the head when members of the presidential guard opened fire on demonstrators as they surged towards the presidential palace. His body was immediately taken to Ravoahangy Hospital, where a doctor said he had been killed by a "gunshot wound behind the ear." Fellow RTA journalists Heritina Ny Anjarason and Mirindra Raparivelo were with Ratovonirina at the time of the shooting. Anjarason told Reporters Without Borders: "Ando was holding a microphone and was taking notes while Mirindra had a small camera. A delegation representing the mayor had gone to talk to the soldiers guarding the palace. When it returned, we approached the mayor's chief of staff, Gen. Dolin, to interview him about the outcome of the negotiations. We had not yet reached Gen. Dolin and we had our backs to the palace when the shooting started. We threw ourselves to the ground but Ando was hit all the same." Ratovonirina had only recently completed his journalism studies and had been working for RTA for three months. He was previously a photographer for the "La Gazette de laGrande Ile" daily newspaper and used to write for the "Tophos" news agency under the pseudonym of Hathor.
Steve Dlamini - South Africa - Died February 22 ,2009
The motoring editor of City Press newspaper Steve Dlamini was killed in a head-on collision on Sunday just before 11:00. Dlamini, 32, was on his way to the A1 Grand Prix when the accident happened Allandale Road just outside the Kyalami race-track. Little detail is yet available about the crash but according to sources Dlamini, who was travelling on a motorbike, was passing a line of traffic when he crashed into a BMW which was busy making a u-turn. Dlamini as killed instantly. His wife, Berenice, and two children survive him. Dlamini still attended a Renault product launch with fellow motoring journalists on Saturday. Wheels24 editor Wilmer Muller said on Sunday that Dlamini’s death is a shock and a loss to our industry.
Soad Faraj Abu Sheba / Salah Abdul Hamid - Lybia - March 3, 2009
Soad Faraj Abu Sheba, a Libyan female journalist working for Kuurina newspaper was killed in a road traffic accident on her way to join the Gaza Aid convoy. Her two colleagues Salah Abdul Hamid and Ibrahim Hadiya Al Majdi were injured in the same car accident. Salah Abdul Hamid, photographer for Kuurina newspaper later died of his wounds in hospital.
MAY THEIR SOULS REST IN ETERNAL PEACE
*The listed names and the information published about the fallen journalists was btained from International News Safety Institute’s site (INSI)
http://www.newssafety.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11044&Itemid=100537
SALIM AMIN
Chairman
A24 Media
