Yesterday Reporters Without Borders released their Press Freedom Round-up 2007. Some highlights for Africa:
- 12 journalists killed
- 162 arrested
- 145 attacked or threatened
- 1 kidnapped
Eight of those killed were in Somalia, where violent conflict between U.S.-funded Ethiopian troops and supporters of the Islamic Courts Union has caused hundreds of deaths in the past two years.
Also worth noting are the statistics on online journalism: 37 bloggers arrested, 21 physically attacked, 66 cyberdissidents arrested and 2676 websites shut down or suspended.
In other news, Uganda’s ranked 97th in the worldwide press freedom index, above Rwanda (147) and Burundi (127) but below Tanzania (55) and Kenya (78) — I’m curious to see how that changes in light of the media blackout surrounding the Kenyan elections.