Internet Under Surveillance 2004 - Burundi
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Publication Date | 2004 |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, Internet Under Surveillance 2004 - Burundi, 2004, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/46e69185c.html [accessed 6 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
- Population: 6,602,000
- Internet users: 8,000 (2002)
- Average charge for 20 hours of connection: 64 euros
- DAI*: 0.10
- Situation**: middling
Press freedom changes according to the state of peace talks between the government and rebel forces. When things are especially tense, such as after armed clashes, the media are targeted by the authorities. But the country has fewer than 10,000 Internet users, so controlling the Internet is not a priority.
A journalist imprisoned
Jean-Claude Kavumbagu, head of the Net Press news agency, was arrested by the secret police in Bujumbura on 5 July 2003 and accused of carrying material on the agency's website that insulted the government. The minister of communications had summoned him the day before and asked him to remove a link on the site to Agora, a European-based Burundian group whose website described the president, Domitien Ndayizeye, and other regime officials as "coup-makers and perpetrators of genocide" whose hands were stained with "the blood of innocents." Kavumbagu was freed on 10 July.
Links
- The Net Press news agency - www.netpress.bi
* The DAI (Digital Access Index) has been devised by the International Telecommunications Union to measure the access of a country's inhabitants to information and communication technology. It ranges from 0 (none at all) to 1 (complete access).
** Assessment of the situation in each country (good, middling, difficult, serious) is based on murders, imprisonment or harassment of cyber-dissidents or journalists, censorship of news sites, existence of independent news sites, existence of independent ISPs and deliberately high connection charges.
