On January 25, the High Constitutional Court of Madagascar ruled that a runoff vote “within 30 days” would resolve the disputed December 2001 presidential election between longtime leader Didier Ratsiraka and Marc Ravalomanana, mayor of the capital, Antananarivo. Despite the ruling, however, both men declared themselves president and introduced their Cabinets to an impoverished populace,…
During 2002, the beleaguered Malawian press endured threats and verbal attacks from President Bakili Muluzi and his ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), as well as physical abuse from party supporters, while local media outlets struggled to maintain editorial independence in the face of mounting financial difficulties.
Strict licensing laws, self-censorship, and pervasive political influence dominate the press in Malaysia. Under the country’s severe Internal Security Act, journalists are also subject to indefinite detention without charge, as well as harsh libel penalties. The ruling National Front coalition and corporations allied with the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad control all major newspapers…
Mauritanian authorities continue to use the country’s harsh 1991 press law to punish journalists who run afoul of the regime. Article 11 of the law allows the interior minister to ban the sale of publications that commit such vague offenses as “insulting Islamic principles or the credibility of the state,” harming “the public interest,” or…
Two years after the historic election of Vicente Fox, which ended 75 years of one-party rule in Mexico, the country is being governed somewhat more democratically. But in 2002, the president still faced urgent demands to break with the government’s corrupt and secretive past in favor of transparency and public accountability.
More than a year after a CPJ mission to Mozambique found that the November 2000 murder of investigative reporter Carlos Cardoso had created “an atmosphere of fear” in the country’s newsrooms, the independent press corps there appears to have regained confidence in its ability to denounce corruption and other ills. In the weeks before the…
Political turmoil and an intensified Maoist insurgency severely strained Nepal’s young democracy and profoundly challenged the country’s independent media. In November 2001, the government, then led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, imposed a state of emergency, introduced a sweeping anti-terrorism ordinance, and called out the army to counter the mounting threat posed by Maoist…
On January 10, President Enrique Bolaños Geyer of the ruling Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) assumed office, promising to fight corruption. With strong popular and media backing, Bolaños took on PLC leader and former president Arnoldo Alemán, long suspected of malfeasance. In September, a judge found several of Alemán’s associates and relatives guilty of corruption and…
In early August, a military uprising in the eastern Diffa Region by soldiers demanding salary arrears jeopardized Niger’s fragile democracy. The mutiny was the first serious challenge to civilian rule since the election of President Mamadou Tandja in December 1999. Before that election, the country had experienced two coups in three years. Anxious to restore…