Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

When <strong>the</strong> Media Foundation for
West Africa (MFWA) started operation
as a press freedom/freedom of
expression advocacy organisation,
<strong>the</strong> first campaign it initiated was
to demand justice in <strong>the</strong> murder of
Burkinabe editor Norbert Zongo in
1999. Five <strong>years</strong> later, in 2004, <strong>the</strong>
MFWA had to mount ano<strong>the</strong>r campaign
for justice in <strong>the</strong> murder of
Gambian editor Deyda Hydara.
These campaigns, drawing in a host
of local or national, regional and
international organisations, did not
bring about justice but <strong>the</strong>y helped
to make <strong>the</strong> issues well-publicised
international human rights cases.
Action on more recent cases of serious
journalists’ rights abuses in <strong>the</strong>
Gambia, however, produced legal
judgments condemning <strong>the</strong> perpetrator
government by a regional
court of justice.
Meanwhile, on an ongoing basis,
MFWA has had to intervene to
secure safety and a safe haven for
journalists threatened with death,
as well as work with media caught
up in vicious civil wars and strife.
Section 3: Independence
Resisting press repression while
wrestling with donor-independence
By Professor Kwame Karikari
Professor Kwame Karikari is
Executive Director, Media Foundation
for West Africa, Accra, Ghana.
The MFWA was established in 1997,
some six <strong>years</strong> <strong>after</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Windhoek</strong>
<strong>Declaration</strong>. In effect, as with many
examples of progress in media
development across Africa, <strong>the</strong>
organisation’s founding was also
a product of <strong>the</strong> environment and
impetus catalysed by <strong>the</strong> <strong>Windhoek</strong>
<strong>Declaration</strong>.
The <strong>Windhoek</strong> conference took
place at a time of convulsive
political developments that seemed
to engulf <strong>the</strong> entire sub-Saharan
region of Africa. On one hand,
most of this region was thrown
into a radical popular upsurge for
democratic reforms. On ano<strong>the</strong>r
level, by <strong>the</strong> time <strong>the</strong> MFWA got off
<strong>the</strong> drawing board, violent political
conflicts, including full-blown civil
wars and communal or o<strong>the</strong>r local
bloody crises, threatened <strong>the</strong> very
existence of so many countries as
established entities called states.
Not more than three of <strong>the</strong>
16-member Economic Community
of West African States (Ecowas)
were spared <strong>the</strong> divisive convulsion
that had gripped <strong>the</strong> whole region.
Yet at <strong>the</strong> same period, and as part
of <strong>the</strong> Africa-wide movement in
popular self-assertion, <strong>the</strong> demands
for democratisation included, very
prominently, an upsurge for press
freedom and an end to government
monopoly of media. The streets of
<strong>the</strong> capitals and big cities of most
countries became awash with an
avalanche of newly set-up newspaper
titles. Headlines, intoning <strong>the</strong>
excitement of new-found free voices,
screamed out subjects previously
considered taboo: about governments
and <strong>the</strong>ir dictatorial leaders.
Nothing appeared sacred any more
to <strong>the</strong> newly born newspaper gen-
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