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(MnG, SAPA) Two Zambian journalists arrested after riots

Two Zambian journalists arrested after riots
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA Jan 19 2011 14:55

Zambian police have arrested a journalist for inciting riots that saw two people killed during secessionist demonstrations, while a second reporter was also detained, press officials said on Wednesday.

Protesters fought running battles with police on Saturday in an area known as Barotseland, in the west of the country, where separatists argue that they have been overlooked by the government.

Nyambe Muyumbana, a reporter with Radio Lyambai, a local privately-run station, was arrested on Tuesday night and has yet to be charged, Daniel Sikazwe, chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"He has spent a night in the police cells. The police are saying Muyumbana aired programmes that were meant to incite the public to rise against the authorities," Sikazwe said.

The government has since ordered Radio Lyambai to stop broadcasting, claiming the station was "propagating the autonomy of the western province from the rest of Zambia".

Police reinforcements from the capital were deployed to restore order in Mongu, about 600km west of Lusaka, where the clashes took place.

A second journalist, Mwala Kalaluka, employed by the privately-owned Post newspaper, has also been arrested in connection with the riots but is yet to be charged, a lawyer for the paper told AFP without giving further details. -- Sapa-AFP

Labels: BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, JOURNALISM, MWALA KALALUKA, PRESS FREEDOM, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 5:30 PM