/ 10 January 2001

TWO REPORTERS ARRESTED IN BURKINA FASO

TWO journalists have been arrested in Burkina Faso for investigating the death of a 12-year-old pupil shot dead in December during a demonstration quashed by paramilitary police. Germain Nama and Newton Ahmed Barry were taken in for questioning on Monday. After the death of Flavien Nebie during the protest in Bousse, some 50km outside of the capital, the two journalists went to the scene and found a bullet wedged in the bark of a tree. They then handed the piece of evidence over to the public prosecutor and wrote about their findings. Burkina’s minister of security said the investigation and its publication amounted to “sheer contempt of existing institutions.” – AFP