Africa's journalists are under attack - why the rest of us should help

And on the following day, three journalists were killed in Nigeria in so far unexplained circumstances:Edo Sule Ugbagwu of the Nation was shot in his house; and Nathan Dabak and Sunday Bwede were shot while reporting on the clashes in Plateau State. Last September, an editor with the Lagos daily The Guardian, Bayo Ohu was shot in his house and the assailants stole his laptop and cellphone raising suspicions that someone was trying to silence him.

Sadly, this list of journalistic casualties in Africa is lengthening and regional governments appear indifferent as best and complicit at worst. President Dénis Sassou Nguesso's regime in Congo-Brazzaville is blocking the investigation into the burning to death of Franco-Congolese journalists Bruno Jacquet last year just before the flawed presidential elections. Jacquet had been investigating links between Sassou-Nguesso and international oil companies.

No progress has been made in finding the killers of investigative journalist Didace Namujimbo who was working for Radio Okapi in the east of Congo-Kinshasa. And President Yahya Jammeh in Gambiarefuses to respond to questions about the whereabouts of Daily Observer journalist Ebrima Manneh, who was arrested in the newspaper's officer by state security officials in July 2006 and hasn't been seen since.

In Egypt, Abdel Karim Suleiman who criticised some conservative religious figures in his blog known as 'Karim Amer', was sentenced to four years gaol in 2006. Since then he has been beaten several times by a prison guard and another inmate at the Borg Al-Arab prison in Alexandria. All these cases have been taken up by excellent lobby groups such as Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders but our journalistic responsibility doesn't stop there.

That was made clear by the African delegates to the Global Investigative Journalism conference in Geneva on 22-25 April. There journalists such as Mary Akuffo of Ghana's New Crusading Guide, together with freelance reporters Annie Mpalume from Zimbabwe and John Grobler from Namibia described the perils of reporting on illegal mining operations and corruption in the big mining houses. Mpalume was arrested by soldiers in Zimbabwe's disputed diamond fields at Chiadzwa and Grobler was attacked with a broken glass after his reports annoyed some local business interests.

Also speaking at the conference were the award-winning reporters, Ghana's Anas Aremeyaw Anas andUganda's Frank Nyakairu, who have produced insider stories on the international people trafficking business. And Kenyan journalists, Fatuma Noor and Kassim Mohammed explained their battles to investigate the business dealings among Somalia's pirates.

What emerged from all these accounts was the bravery of the individual reporters and their important contribution to the global coverage of corporate corruption and human rights issues in ways that many western readers and listeners, and even many journalists take for granted.

Organisations such as the Forum for Investigative Reporters (FAIR) do great work in promoting the braver and more intrepid journalists in Africa but publications and broadcasters outside Africa should find ways to do more.