Daily Nation-Nairobi-Kenya
News
Thursday, October 17, 2002
Uganda forces end siege on 'Monitor'
By Michael Wakabi
Kampala, Wednesday
Ugandan security forces have ended a siege on a leading newspaper, The Monitor, which has now been allowed to resume publication.
Police also handed back equipment confiscated from the country's only independent daily, but its senior editors were taken to court and charged with publishing false stories.
The decision to end the siege was announced after a meeting between Nation Group Chairman Hannington Awori and Editorial Director Wangethi Mwangi, and First deputy Premier and Internal Affairs Minister Eriya Kategaya.
The meeting was also attended by The Monitor's Editor-in-Chief Wafula Oguttu as well as Information Minister Basoga Nsadhu and Presidential Advisor on Media and Public Relations John Nagenda.
"The paper has been handed back to us, but we cannot immediately resume production because the decision was arrived at late. We shall be back on the streets on Friday," Mr Oguttu said after the meeting.
This ends six-day crisis, which has earned the Ugandan government international criticism, during which the daily has been off the streets.
Police returned computers and mobile phones confiscated last week and handed back the paper's offices and printing press at Namuwongo. Mobile phones, computers, and several files are among items that police confiscated in the Thursday night raid.
The paper's Managing Editor Charles Onyango-Obbo was charged in a Kampala court with publishing false news and publishing information prejudicial to national security and was released on a USh500,000 bail. His two sureties executed non-cash bonds of USh1 million each.
Reporter Frank Nyakairu, who has been held at Gulu police station, 330 kilometres north of Kampala, since Saturday, was brought to Kampala in handcuffs and is being questioned at CID headquarters.
Mr Joseph Were, the Editor, and News Editor Wanyama Wangah were separately questioned on Monday and released on bond.
The confrontation followed the publication of a controversial report last Thursday which alleged that a Ugandan army helicopter had crashed during operations against the rebels in the north.
Earlier yesterday, Kenyan journalists and a political party had condemned the blockade.
The Kenya Union of Journalists and the Media Institute had appealed to the Ugandan Government to end the siege and return confiscated equipment. They had also called for the release of Mr Nyakairu.
The Social Party for Advancement and Reforms in Kenya (Spark) urged the Ugandan Government to resolve the dispute through civil methods.
The media organisations urged the East African Assembly to intervene "in this gross violation of the right to property, life and free speech."
KUJ secretary-general Ezekiel Mutua and Media Institute director David Makali said at a Press conference in Nairobi: "We call on all media in the region to stand up in solidarity with our Ugandan counterparts. This is not a matter for The Monitor or the Nation Media Group alone but one that concerns the Press and Kenyan investors in the media."
They added: "Confiscating equipment and shutting down a newspaper is an outdated, excessive and expensive act of censorship. President Yoweri Museveni should not be allowed to gag the independent Press."
In a statement addressed to the Ugandan High Commission in Nairobi, FPAD said: "We demand that the security personnel at the offices be withdrawn and journalists working for The Monitor be allowed to continue with their normal duties."
The blockade has remained in place yesterday for the sixth day and the office was out of bounds to employees while the paper was not published for the seventh consecutive day.
The move has drawn criticism from donors and human rights pressure groups worldwide.
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