Tanzanian Foreign Minister Denies Saying Missing Journalist Died
Tanzanian Foreign Minister Denies Saying Missing Journalist Died
(Bloomberg) -- Tanzania’s foreign minister, Palamagamba Kabudi, denied that a journalist who has been missing for more than a year, had died.
Kabudi told the British Broadcasting Corp. that Azory Gwanda, who was investigating the massacre and disappearance of people in the eastern Rufiji region, is not the only one who has disappeared and died. The government later released a statement Thursday, in which Kabudi said his comments where misinterpreted during an explanation about people who were lost or killed. Investigations are still going on as there is no evidence of whether Gwanda is alive or dead, he said in the statement.
The Committee to Protect Journalists asked Tanzania to give a detailed explanation on the fate of Gwanda following Kabudi’s initial comments. Since Gwanda went missing in November 2017, the government hasn’t given details on his disappearance to his family or Tanzania’s media, according to CPJ’s Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney.
“Then suddenly the foreign minister mentions, almost in passing, that the journalist is apparently dead,” Mahoney said in a statement. “This is wholly inadequate and distressing. The government must immediately share publicly all information it has about Gwanda’s fate.”
Gwanda’s case heightened concern that Tanzanian President John Magufuli is muzzling the media and cracking down on dissent. Foreign donors provided a fraction of the budget support they’d pledged for 2018-19, saying the human rights situation was deteriorating, the Citizen newspaper reported in March.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ken Karuri in Dar es Salaam at kkaruri@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Andre Janse van Vuuren
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