Timor-Leste: Receios pela liberdade de imprensa

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Balibo's ghosts and Timor-Leste's controversial media law

A Timorese broadcast journalist working in Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery at a 2013 memorial event marking the
1991 massacre by Indonesian troops. Photo: David Robie

CAFÉ PACIFIC opened up public debate on the progress of Dili's widely condemned Media Law in February after a visit to Timor-Leste. Since then there has been a critical mass of coverage and analysis on this flawed piece of legislation. The latest commentary by Human Rights Watch's Phelim Kine is an indictment of Australian policy over Timor-Leste. He says the Australian government should "make it clear that media freedom is an indispensable component of a prosperous and stable society and demand that East Timor nurture a free media, not undermine it". Ditto for New Zealand policy. Read on:

Australia's stake in East Timor's media freedom is rooted in that country's hillside town of Balibo. It was there on October 16, 1975 that invading Indonesian military forces killed, execution-style, five journalists - Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart, and New Zealander Gary Cunningham from Melbourne's Channel Seven and Brian Raymond Peters and Malcolm Rennie from Sydney's Channel Nine - to prevent them from reporting on the invasion.

Indonesian troops on December 8, 1975, killed Roger East, an Australian reporter drawn to East Timor to determine the fate of the Balibo Five.

Four decades later, East Timor's journalists and foreign correspondents are again under threat. A new media law that East Timor's Parliament passed on May 6 has the power to stifle the country's still-fragile media freedom. East Timor's Court of Appeal is reviewing the law's constitutionality in response to a July 14 request by president Taur Matan Ruak.


Although the Media Act explicitly enshrines "freedom of the press", "freedom of expression", and "prohibition of censorship", elements of the law will give the government a free hand to gag journalists and the organisations they work for.

Intrinsic hostility
Exhibit A of the Media Act's intrinsic hostility to media freedom is its creation of an official Press Council. While the law tries to describe the Press Council as a benign five-member "independent administrative entity", its key functions and reliance on state funding make it a potentially serious threat. The Press Council would have the power to "grant, renew, suspend and revoke" the journalists' credentials under a new licensing system.

That licensing system imposes minimum periods of work internship for prospective journalists of six to 18 months depending on their education level. It also would give the Press Council effective power over who media organisations can hire by prohibiting them from employing any journalists "not duly certified with their [Press Council] credentials".

The licensing system would apply equally to domestic and foreign media organisations and their staff, giving the Press Council the power to approve or deny foreign correspondents' access to the country. Many of the world's most respected journalists never went to journalism school, yet these requirements would make it impossible for independent journalists lacking formal journalistic training to work.

The law's narrow definition of a journalist also ignores the value of a new generation of citizen journalists and bloggers who constitute a growing source of news in global media markets. The United Nations Human Rights Committee, the independent body that monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, agrees.

The committee has stated that, "journalism is a function shared by a wide range of actors, including professional full-time reporters and analysts, as well as bloggers and others who engage in forms of self-publication in print, on the internet or elsewhere, and general state systems of registration or licensing of journalists are incompatible" with the full realisation of freedom of expression "essential for the promotion and protection of human rights".

Vulnerable to retaliation
The Media Act does more than just dictate who can aspire to be a journalist in East Timor. It also imposes ambiguous "functions" and "duties" that could make journalists vulnerable to retaliation for reporting critical of the government.

Journalists would be obligated, along with reporting the news, to "promote the national culture", and "encourage and support high quality economic policies and services". Another provision requires journalists to "promote public interest and democratic order".

The danger for journalists lies in the law's omission of any specific explanation or clarification of what these obligations actually entail. As a result, the government has dangerously wide latitude in interpreting the law to the detriment of journalists' ability to report without fear of violating these ambiguous requirements.

The government could, for example, interpret reporting on corporate malfeasance or environmental pollution by a local factory as a violation of journalists' legal obligation to "support high quality economic policies and services". Media reporting exposing graft, corruption or threats to public health might prompt the government to respond with legal action on the basis that such reports were a threat to "public interest and democratic order".

Serious concerns
Not surprisingly, Timorese human rights activists have raised serious concerns about the new law's impact on media freedom. Journalists and activists have criticised the drafting and passage of the Media Act for a lack of transparency and consultation, with little or no formal opportunity for the public to comment.

They have good reason to fear that elements of the government and security forces want to intimidate journalists. The national police commissioner, Longinhos Monteiro, in March 2012 warned that police would arrest journalists who published "inaccurate" news articles.

In October 2012, the public prosecutor in Dili, the capital, imposed house arrest on two journalists who had written critically about an investigation of a fatal traffic accident.

East Timor's journalists and foreign correspondents - who spent decades under the boot heel of an oppressive Indonesian military occupation - deserve better. Journalists, including freelancers, took great risks and made enormous sacrifices to report the truth during the darkest days of Indonesia's occupation.

The government should recognise that the Media Act in its current form would betray those sacrifices.

The Australian government has stated its "strong interest in a prosperous and stable Timor-Leste" and has budgeted $112.3 million in development aid in 2013-2014. The Australian government should make it clear that media freedom is an indispensable component of a prosperous and stable society and demand that East Timor nurture a free media, not undermine it.

Desperate appeal
In a moving final broadcast three days before his death in October 1975, the Australian journalist Greg Shackleton recounted the desperation of East Timorese at the apparent lack of concern of the international community to their country's plight.

"Why, they asked, are the Australians not helping us?" an emotional Shackleton said into the camera. East Timor's journalists shouldn't have to ask that same question in 2014.

Australian government silence on the threat posed by East Timor's Media Act would be a betrayal of those journalists and a disservice to the memory of the Balibo Five.

A Tunísia caminha para eleições

In September 2010 I was in Tunisia working with the African Development Bank. Just 30 minutes after arriving, walking around the old town I unwittingly ended up being given a guided tour. The young man had a university degree, spoke 3 languages fluently and had the skills to trick me into doing a tour while still seeming very nice. The next day, having a coffee under a giant poster of Ben Ali in the suburb of Sidi Bou Said, I wondered with my economics hat on about the untapped productivity, when talented workers are employed fooling foreigners on the street.

Three months later Tunisia was the birthplace of the Arab Spring. I don't have any evidence, but I'm sure my tour guide was right in amongst those crowds. His frustration about the lack of opportunities was typical of millions across the Arab world. Almost four years on, Tunisia is the closest thing we have to a good news story. Open and credible elections are set to happen later in the year, and both political stability and the economy are improving slowly.

The pace is slower than many Tunisians would hope for, with an emerging terrorist threat a particular concern. Even so, compared to the rest of the region, they must be happy to at least have the direction right.  Simon Baptist/The Economist

Presidentes africanos mais e menos populares

African Leaders' Scorecard Is a Mixed Bag

Better-off residents more likely to give high marks to their presidents

by Magali Rheault

This article is second in a series that highlights key issues in Africa in relation to the first-ever U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit taking place in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 4-6.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Presidents from more than half of the 26 sub-Saharan African countries surveyed in 2013 -- many of whom are attending the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit this week -- received job approval ratings higher than 50%. But those ratings varied greatly across countries, from a high of 86% in Mali to a low of 24% in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Among leaders who received some of the highest approval ratings in 2013, a few have been in office for more than two decades, such as Cameroon's Paul Biya and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni. But several other highly rated presidents, such as Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali, had either just been elected to a first term or started on their second term at the time of the survey.
The same diversity in tenure also appears among leaders who received the lowest job performance ratings from their constituents. Two of these presidents, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Chad's Idriss Déby, have been in office for more than two decades, while most of the others were finishing their first or second term at the time of the survey. As such, length of time in office appears to be unrelated to approval ratings.
Income Associated With Presidential Approval
Across all sub-Saharan African countries surveyed in 2013, residents who said they are living comfortably or are getting by on their present income were far more likely than those who said they are less well-off to approve of their presidents' job performance. This suggests that better-off residents may be benefiting, either directly or indirectly, from a certain economic climate nurtured by the leader and his or her policies.

Diminui interesse pelo carvão de Moçambique

China's demand for coal drew big mining companies to Mozambique's world-class reserves but now they are frantically revising their forecasts

When Rio Tinto sold its stake in Mozambique's coal reserves on 30 July, alarm bells rang for the country's coal industry. The Anglo-Australian company took US$50 million, less than 1% of the $3.7 billion it had paid in 2011. The sale also raises more doubts about President Armando Guebuza's legacy ahead of October’s general elections, when he is due to step down. Presenting himself as a business-minded reformer, Guebuza promised to transform the economy by tackling bureaucratic inertia and bringing in billions of dollars of investment to exploit the rich coal and gas reserves. Business decisions are derailing those plans. It emerged on 4 August that another leading foreign investor in coal, Brazil's Vale, would follow suit. Its Chairman, Murilo Ferreira, told reporters in Brazil that the company would sell its stake in the open-cast coal mine at Moatize, Tete Province, one of the biggest in the world.

Africa Confidential

Britânicos fogem da Líbia destruída

A Royal Navy ship helping Britons to leave Libya amid worsening violence in the country has arrived in Malta, according to the Foreign Office (FCO).

HMS Enterprise helped 110 people, the majority of whom were British. None are understood to be diplomats.

The FCO temporarily closed its embassy in the capital of Tripoli on Monday. It had urged Britons to leave the country.

It comes amid fighting between rival factions in Libya, which has killed hundreds of people in recent weeks.
'Food and shelter'
The Plymouth-based ship left the UK in June for an 18-month survey deployment and had been on operations in the Mediterranean.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon confirmed the Royal Navy operation had been launched following Foreign Office advice.

"I thank the crew of HMS Enterprise for their support and professionalism in carrying out this important task," he said.

About 110 people were registered to leave on board the ship including two Irish citizens and one German.

During the operation, it is understood HMS Enterprise moored just off Tripoli and a smaller vessel was dispatched to transport people from shore to deck.

HMS Enterprise commanding officer Mark Vartan said the crew had been "proud" to play its part in helping to move people to safety.

"My ship's company have adapted to the challenge superbly, making as much space as possible and providing essential food, shelter and security for the journey," he said.

Rob Luke, the UK's High Commissioner in Malta, tweeted his thanks to his officials who had "worked through the night" to help those arriving from Libya.

A petrol depot was set on fire after fighting between rival groups near the airport in Tripoli

The ship's departure was not considered a rescue mission as there were still commercial means to leave Libya.

The country has been gripped by instability and a power struggle among rival groups since the overthrow of former leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Fighting between rival militias - one established by the outgoing parliament and one controlled by the defence ministry - has spread northwards in the capital in recent days.

More than 200 people have been killed in Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi in the past two weeks.
'Very sad'
It is thought there are between 100 and 300 Britons still in Libya.

The British embassy in Tripoli suspended its operations on Monday, after which the remaining staff were due to leave. It is relocating to neighbouring Tunisia.

British ambassador to Libya Michael Aron has described the situation as "very sad" and said staff would return to the embassy "as soon as security allows". BBC

Três anos depois do ataque ocidental à Líbia

La confusion autour de la séance inaugurale du nouveau Parlement, convoquée lundi à Tripoli par les islamistes et à Tobrouk (est) par les nationalistes, est l'expression politique des divisions qui minent le pays, déchiré depuis le 13 juillet par les combats entre milice rivales.
La mise en place du nouveau Parlement libyen a très mal commencé. Les élus ont été convoqués à la séance inaugurale lundi 4 août à deux endroits différents. Tobrouk pour les nationalistes, à 1 500 km à l'est du chaos de la capitale, et Tripoli pour les islamistes.
Samedi déjà, "160 des 188 élus du Parlement" - chiffre non vérifié de source indépendante - auraient tenu une réunion informelle à Tobrouk, boycottée par les islamistes et leurs alliés. Un chiffre qui, s’il se révélait exact, confirmerait la victoire écrasante des nationalistes devant leurs rivaux aux dernières législatives, où les candidatures étaient individuelles.
Après une cérémonie protocolaire, les députés présents à Tobrouk devaient prêter serment lundi dans l'après-midi, avant d'élire le président de la "Chambre des représentants", selon l'élu Abou Bakr Biira qui préside la réunion.

Dialogue de sourds
Mais les élus islamistes et leurs alliés de la ville de Misrata (ouest) boycottent la cérémonie qu'ils qualifient d'anticonstitutionnelle. En effet, ils estiment que c'était à Nouri Abou Sahmein, président du Congrès général national (le Parlement sortant dominé par les islamistes), de convoquer la réunion. Selon eux, Tobrouk est une ville acquise à la cause du général dissident Khalifa Haftar, qui a annoncé le 16 mai une offensive anti-islamiste dans l'est du pays. Nouri Abou Sahmein a ainsi maintenu la cérémonie de "passation de pouvoir" à Tripoli. Initialement prévue à 11 heures (9h GMT), elle a été retardée.
Selon une source libyenne bien renseignée, c’est aussi le transfert du Parlement de Tripoli à Benghazi, à la suite des secondes élections législatives du 25 juin, qui nourrit la colère des islamistes. "Ils perdent enfin le contrôle sur le Parlement, qui pourrait faire passer des lois de type antiterroriste qu’ils redoutent", estime cette source.
Cette confusion autour de la séance inaugurale du nouveau Parlement résulte des profondes divisions entre islamistes et nationalistes, qui s'expriment aussi sur le terrain militaire avec de violents combats entre milices rivales, d’une intensité jamais atteinte depuis la chute de Mouammar Kadhafi en 2011.
Plus de 220 morts en 15 jours
En deux semaines, les violences à Tripoli et Benghazi ont fait plus de 220 morts et un millier de blessés, selon les autorités. Rien que pour la journée de samedi dernier, la capitale a enregistré 22 morts et 72 blessés, selon le gouvernement. D'après des analystes, les islamistes tentent de compenser leur défaite aux législatives du 25 juin par les armes. Depuis le 13 juillet, quelques jours après l'annonce des résultats préliminaires, ils lancent des offensives à Tripoli et Benghazi (est) contre l'armée ou d'autres groupes armés anti-islamistes, comme les puissantes brigades de Zenten (à 170 km au sud-ouest de Tripoli).
Pour se justifier, les assaillants, qui se présentent comme d'ex-rebelles ayant combattu le régime de Mouammar Kadhafi, affirment lutter contre des "résidus" de l'ancien régime. La mouvance nationaliste accuse de son côté les islamistes de semer le chaos pour tenter d'empêcher la prise de fonction du Parlement, où ils n'ont plus la majorité. "Désormais, nous sommes dans une situation où il y a deux autorités différentes : une issue des élections législatives à Tobrouk et une sur le terrain qui domine les trois grandes villes du pays" (Tripoli, Benghazi et Misrata), estime Salah Al-Bakouch, un militant politique pro-islamiste.
(Avec AFP)

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O desmoronar do Espírito Santo

Jornal i 4/8/14

Editorial

A situação é catastrófica, mas não é grave

Ana Sá Lopes

Já não deve sobrar um português que não seja da família Costa para elogiar o BdP

A avaliar por aquilo que se passou durante um mês inteiro, é de supor que Carlos Costa e Vítor Bento tenham passado as últimas semanas a trocar as mesmas mensagens que, segundo a famosa anedota do tempo da Segunda Guerra, eram enviadas entre os quartéis-generais da Alemanha e da Áustria, já à beira da derrota. O estado-maior do Banco de Portugal passou o mês de Julho inteiro a informar que "a situação é catastrófica, mas não é grave" à qual o novo estado-maior do BES respondeu que "a situação é grave, mas não catastrófica".

Dois exércitos paralisados durante demasiado tempo, até ontem, enquanto o BES se desfazia aos pedaços. Já não deve sobrar um português que não seja da família Costa para elogiar o papel do Banco de Portugal nesta altura dos acontecimentos.

A obsessão em separar o Grupo Espírito Santo do Banco Espírito Santo poderia ter boas razões, mas era uma escolha com um enorme problema: não tinha qualquer adesão à realidade e não era preciso ser-se um especialista para se perceber isso. Há um mês, a 3 de Julho, o Banco de Portugal declarava: "a situação de solvabilidade do BES é sólida, tendo sido significativamente reforçada com o recente aumento de capital" e elogiava o seu papel, garantindo que o Banco de Portugal "tem vindo a adoptar um conjunto de acções de supervisão, traduzidas em determinações específicas dirigidas à ESFG e ao BES, para evitar riscos de contágio ao banco resultantes do ramo não-financeiro do GES". Foi um sucesso.
No dia 11 de Julho, Carlos Costa prosseguia a sua tarefa de "tranquilizar" o país: "O BES detém um montante de capital suficiente para acomodar eventuais impactos negativos". Claro que tudo era feito com base na famosa auditoria que não serviu para nada – nem poderia servir, como os próprios auditores se encarregaram de vir dizer – e que nos vai fazer deixar de confiar em qualquer coisa que tenha passado por um "auditor". E, evidentemente, por um "regulador".

A verdade é que António José Seguro foi ao Banco de Portugal e saiu de lá tranquilo; o Presidente da República interrompeu uma viagem à Coreia do Sul para lembrar que estava tranquilo, uma vez que o　 "Banco de Portugal tem sido peremptório, categórico, a afirmar que os portugueses podem confiar no Banco Espírito Santo",　 "dado que as folgas de capital são mais do que suficientes para cobrir a exposição que o banco tem à parte não financeira, mesmo na situação mais adversa". A situação era catastrófica e grave e por agora vai ser paga pelos do costume.