/ 21 September 2002

Region in brief

” President Robert Mugabe’s government intensified its campaign against the independent media last weekend, expelling one of the last foreign correspondents remaining in Zimbabwe. Griffin Shea, a correspondent for Agence France-Presse, was forced to leave the country on Saturday after the government refused to renew his work permit. “No foreigner should be resident here as a journalist,” Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said. “We have made it clear that they can only be here for a limited period. In fact, the limited period is 30 days.” Moyo suggested that Shea, aUnited States citizen, was working with the US government to overthrow the Mugabe regime. Shea dismissed the charges as completely unfounded. Zimbabwean journalist Tawanda Majoni was jailed last weekend after he reported that the police commissioner was unfit for duty because of ill health. He was released without charges. — Â