A delegation of press freedom organisations, along with Nigerian Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka met with Alpha Konare, Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union on 1 July, to discuss Africas need for legal and institutional framework for a conducive media environment on the continent.

The delegation included CREDO for Freedom of Expression & Associated Rights, FAHAMU, International Federation of Journalists, Justice Initiative and Media Institute of Southern Africa. The delegation called on African Union member countries to repeal all media legislation inconsistent with the Constitutive Acts of the Union and to begin process of adopting treaty level guarantees for media freedom.

Representatives of the delegation praised recent amendments to media laws in Ghana and Uganda . In Ghana, the legislature has repealed criminal defamation laws, and a High Court in Uganda has ruled recently that false news laws used to persecute the media are inconsistent with good governance and democracy.

Despite these positive developments, representatives also pointed out a total of 170 known attacks on journalists and media houses in Africa in 2003, and said that more than 100 attacks have been recorded so far in 2004.

In receiving the delegation, Chairperson Konare welcomed the initiative and acknowledged Professor Wole Soyinkas contributions to freedom of expression in Africa and the world. He also promised that in due course he would follow up on the groups urgent petition.

In 2003, the group submitted a petition to Amara Essy, the predecessor of Alpha Konare, and to the incumbent Chairperson of the African Union, South African president Thabo Mbeki. Calling for the repeal of legislation inconsistent with the African Unions Constitutive Acts, for the release of imprisoned journalists and the reopening of media houses shut down by some African governments, the petition was signed by over a hundred media and freedom of expression organizations, and dozens of individual campaigners from Africa and internationally .