Mozambique: MISA concerned at Nyusi’s comments on disinformation – AIM report

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: MISA concerned at Nyusi’s comments on disinformation – AIM report

4:34 CAT | 27 Nov 2020

Photo: Domingo

The Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa) has expressed concern at the comments made by President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday, when he accused some of the Mozambican media (whom he did not name) of spreading disinformation about the terrorist attacks in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Addressing the opening session of a meeting of the Coordinating Council of the Ministry of Defence, Nyusi said “We lament the growing trend towards disinformation and the attempts to manipulate public opinion by inventing facts, which are then publicized by using the platforms provided by social media”.

He was concerned that “in this saga of distorting reality and of publicizing things which are not real, some of the mass media are being used, and, instead of being guided by professionalism, they end up, deliberately or innocently, acting to the advantage of the enemy”.

Nyusi had instructed the defence and security forces to be vigilant and fight against disinformation. “The first vigilance comes from you”, he told his audience, “you must not be deliberately denigrated while you watch passively and hold nobody responsible for these acts”.

The statement issued by MISA in response to these remarks said it recognised the importance of fighting against disinformation and deliberate lies. . But Nyusi, it pointed out, had not cited any specific examples of what he found objectionable in the media coverage of terrorism in Cabo Delgado.

MISA feared that the President’s statements “may be interpreted as an order to harass all the mass media who offer other views of the facts occurring in Cabo Delgado, and which do not please the government or the defence forces”.

MISA thought it a matter of concern that Nyusi had told the defence and security forces to act on their own account against those accused of spreading disinformation – particularly in a context “where journalists in Cabo Delgado have been the victims of harassment, including arbitrary detentions and kidnappings”.

Under the democratic rule of law, such as that determined by the Mozambican constitution, “it is up to the courts to judge crimes committed by any citizen”, MISA pointed out. Furthermore, unless caught in the act of committing a crime, no citizen may be detained without an arrest warrant.

MISA thus warned against any attempt “to transform the defence and security forces into institutions of the administration of justice, leading them to take the law into their own hands”.

MISA reiterates its “unreserved condemnation of all acts of armed violence which seek to endanger the internal security and territorial integrity of Mozambique”. At the same time, the institution remains committed to the struggle for press freedom, freedom of expression, and the pluralism and diversity of information and opinion”.