Voice of America Washington, DC 20547 Tel: (202) 619-2538 Fax: (202) 619-1241 E-mail: pubaff@ibb.gov

VOA Reporter Assaulted in Angola

Washington, D.C., April 30, 1999 -- Voice of America reporter Josefa Lamberga was assaulted by a member of the Angolan army on Wednesday, April 28 as she left a military installation in the Angolan capital of Luanda while attempting to report on draft evasion by Angolan citizens.

Ms. Lamberga had been denied entry into the installation, and as she was preparing to drive away, she was ordered out of her car by an Angolan army corporal. The unidentified soldier reprimanded her for reports in the local media and on VOA that quoted draftees who claimed that white and mulatto citizens use wealth and political connections to avoid military service. The corporal struck Ms. Lamberga twice in the face during the incident.

The Voice of America office in Luanda, as required by Angolan protocol, informed the Angolan Ministry of Social Communication and notified the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York. In a letter to Angolan President Jose Eduardo do Santos the Committee to Protect Journalists wrote:

"The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) writes to strongly protest the April 28, 1999, assault by a soldier on Josefa Lamberga, a reporter with the Luanda bureau of the Voice of America (VOA) and to express concern that this attack follows a January 1999 statement issued by the Ministry of Social Communication that defined journalists' reporting on draft evasion as a criminal act."

VOA's letter to the Ministry of Social Communication in Angola requested that the perpetrator of the assault be identified and punished, while at the same time expressing regret that such incidents occur "in this period of emerging democracy in which the freedom of the press constitutes a right in Angola."

In early 1997, a former VOA stringer was assassinated in Luanda. The assassin was never caught. The Committee to Protect Journalists has reported a number of attacks since then, including assassinations of journalists in Angola.

The Voice of America's Portuguese to Africa Service is heard throughout Angola. It is one of 53 languages broadcast worldwide by VOA each week to an estimated 83 million listeners.

Contact: George Mackenzie
Phone: (202) 619-2538
E-mail: pubaff@voa.gov