Fighting between M23 rebels and government forces has intensified near Goma, the capital of the eastern province of Nord-Kivu, since 20 May. As well as causing new civilian casualties, the clashes and the actions of some rebels are endangering many journalists and the availability of diverse, freely-reported news and information.

Reporters Without Borders has conducted a series of interviews with Nord-Kivu journalists and has spoken by phone with two M23 officials, Bertrand Bisimwa, the rebel movement’s political leader, and René Abandi, who is in charge of its external affairs.

HOW LONG WILL THE BURMESE MEDIA SPRING LAST ?

Reporters Without Borders is today releasing a report entitled “The Burmese Spring” about the rapid progress that freedom of information has made in Burma, but also about the limits of this progress and the dangers it faces.

The international community is witnessing an unprecedented democratic transition in this Southeast Asian country after half a century of military dictatorship. But, as things stand, the possibility of the reforms being perverted cannot be ruled out.

On December 7th, 2012, the United-Nations expressed “grave concerns” for the displaced people in Kachin State in areas where the UN has no access. Located between Burma, China and India, the Kachin state is one where jade, diamonds, rubies, gold and precious hard woods are abundant. Today, it is also precious for its hydropower potential. Fierce fighting has raged in Kachin state since a 17-year ceasefire between the military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) shattered in June 2011.

Reporters Without Borders and its Congolese partner Journalist in Danger (JED) are deeply concerned about an order issued on 1 December by the High Council for Broadcasting and Communication (CSAC) to jam Radio Okapi.

The station, run by the United Nations for the past 10 years, broadcasts throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was ordered off the air for four days and could suffer more severe penalties unless it complies with the demands of the CSAC.

Reporters Without Borders (RWB) and Journalist in Danger (JED) are deeply worried by the measures that the M23 rebel movement took with the news media after seizing Goma, the capital of the eastern province of Nord Kivu, yesterday.

Aware of the scale of violence against civilians in general, the two NGOs are also very concerned about the safety of media personnel in Goma and other parts of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

President Bashar al-Assad should release all peaceful activists, media professionals, and humanitarian assistance providers as part of an amnesty announced on October 23, 2012, Human Rights Watch, Alkarama, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Index on Censorship, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Reporters Without Borders, PEN International and Samir Kassir Foundation – Skeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom said today.

Two days ago the 14-year-old blogger Malala Yousafzai, was shot and wounded in the head and neck by the Pakistan Taliban on her way home from school.

A gunman stopped the school bus on which the young activist was travelling and shot her and two other girls whom he had asked to identify her. Doctors at the Saidu Sharif hospital in the northern city of Mingora successfully removed the bullets from her but for some time she remained in a critical condition.

A suicide-bombing at a Mogadishu restaurant frequented by media personnel took the lives of at least three journalists today, bringing the number of journalists killed this year in Somalia to 12 and making 2012 "the deadliest year ever for the Somali media," Reporters Without Borders said.

With nine fatalities, 2009 had until now held the Somali "record" for the most journalists killed in a single year.

After several weeks of investigating reports from sources in Eritrea and from prison guards who fled the country, Reporters Without Borders has been able to confirm that three more journalists – Dawit Habtemichael, Mattewos Habteab and Wedi Itay – have died in the northeastern prison camp of Eiraeiro. All three had been held since late 2001.

Another journalist arrested in February 2009, whose identity has not been established with certainty, has also reportedly died in detention – in his case, in Abi Abeito military prison near the capital, Asmara.