WAN-IFRA pays tribute to Pius Njawé

20 Jul 2010

Pius Njawé, 57, who received the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers' (WAN-IFRA) highest accolade, the Golden Pen of Freedom, in 1993 for his outstanding work in promoting an independent press in Cameroon, was killed on 13 July 2010 while in the US. In a tribute to his courage and achievements, WAN-IFRA described him as "an authentic and truly rare hero" in the struggle for press freedom in Africa.

Arrested 126 times during his 30-year career, Njawé became the youngest African editor at the age of 22 when he began publishing Le Messager newspaper. The publication grew to become the most popular in Cameroon.

A rare hero

"Pius was an authentic and truly rare hero of the struggle for press freedom in his own country and a fantastic supporter of campaigns worldwide, particularly in his beloved Africa, to protect and promote this basic human right," said Timothy Balding, director general of WAN-IFRA Global Affairs.

"His courage was simply astonishing: he was arrested and frequently jailed in Cameroon for revealing and contesting the abuses of the regime in power; even his family suffered, particularly when his late wife, pregnant, was brutalised by police when visiting him in prison and, as a consequence, lost their baby.

Loyal member of the Press Freedom Committee

"Not the least of his extraordinary achievements was to continue publishing - for three decades, an incredible feat in most of the continent - his newspaper under conditions which would have made almost all newspaper executives long renounce their calling. But as Pius, a loyal member of the Press Freedom Committee of the former World Association of Newspapers, once told me: 'The most stupid thing the government ever did was to send me to prison. That guaranteed one thing: that, paying this price, I would never give up the struggle against their repression of the free press'."

WAN-IFRA has extended its condolences to Njawé¹s family and to all those who have worked alongside him in the defence of the right to a free press in Cameroon and across the continent.