Africa's press freedom in "crisis" - report

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - African journalism is in crisis with 13 journalists murdered and 32 jailed in 2009 and the African Union is doing nothing to reverse the trend, an international journalists' group said on Thursday.

In a report the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) named Eritrea, Somalia, Tunisia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Gambia as the most repressive countries for African journalists to work in.

The survey was compiled by African journalists from the IFJ's sister organisation, the Federation of African journalists.

"This report outlines in clear, bald terms the scale of the crisis that faces journalists across the continent," Aidan White, secretary general of the IFJ, told Reuters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

"The African Union needs to demonstrate that its members are committed to press freedom. They're not now. The situation in Africa is intolerable."

The report says nine journalists were murdered in Somalia in 2009 and 19 journalists held incommunicado in Eritrea.

"We have been knocking on the door of Eritrea for talks. They haven't opened the door yet. But we'll keep knocking," White said.

"We want dialogue with governments and for governments to stop thinking the media are a political instrument rather than a force for democratic change."