Ireti Bakare-Yusuf, C onvenor of AJAG * African Journalists Against Genocide (AJAG) leads pan-African outrage against Israel’s war crimes in...
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| Ireti Bakare-Yusuf, Convenor of AJAG |
*African Journalists Against Genocide (AJAG) leads pan-African outrage against Israel’s war crimes in Gaza
By Ammar M. Rajab
A powerful wave of solidarity is sweeping across Africa’s media landscape as
dozens of journalists from across the continent unite under one voice to
condemn Israel’s systematic killing of journalists in Gaza.
Under the banner of African Journalists Against Genocide (AJAG), media
professionals from Nigeria, South Africa, The Gambia, Zimbabwe, Niger Republic,
Sudan, Sierra Leone, Botswana, and beyond, have denounced what they call “a war on journalism itself.”
A poignant 4-minute, 46-second video released
Sunday by AJAG featured over 50 African journalists from print, broadcast, and
digital platforms, collectively declaring:
“Journalism
is not a crime. Targeting and killing journalists is.”
According to AJAG, more than 230 journalists have been killed in Gaza
so far, with an average of 13 deaths
every month—figures that have drawn condemnation from press freedom
advocates and genocide scholars worldwide.
At the forefront of this unprecedented
movement is Ireti Bakare-Yusuf,
a respected Nigerian broadcast journalist and convenor of AJAG. Bakare-Yusuf is the host of Borderlines on Nigeria Info—Nigeria’s
leading current affairs show that has offered extensive, unflinching coverage of the Gaza conflict
since its onset. Borderlines has become
the country’s No. 1 platform for dissecting the humanitarian crisis, with
scholars—Jewish genocide experts among them—now openly referring to Israel’s
campaign as genocide.
Explaining her motivation for founding AJAG,
Bakare-Yusuf said:
“Even though South Africa led the charge at
the International Court of Justice, African journalists were still unheard,
despite doing the same courageous work as our Western counterparts. We needed a
space—our own platform—where the voices from the continent could rise in
fearless solidarity with our Palestinian colleagues.”
She added that the formation of AJAG was both
a moral and professional necessity, grounded in the shared grief, anger, and
indignation of journalists witnessing their peers being deliberately targeted for
doing their job.
“We also share the pain, anger and fury of
journalists across the world. We condemn the Western-licensed Israeli impunity
and demand accountability for Israel’s war crimes,” Bakare-Yusuf said.
Her resolve deepened following the recent killing
of several journalists in Gaza, including Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qraiqea, Ibrahim al-Thaher, Mohamed
Nofal, and Mohammed al-Khaldi,
who worked for Al Jazeera and as freelance reporters.
“When news broke that, once again, Israel had
killed Al Jazeera journalists, my heart broke into several pieces. From my
tears came the determination to act,” Bakare-Yusuf said. “It wasn’t enough to
continue raising awareness through Borderlines.
I had to do more. The genocidal killing must stop. Israel must be reminded:
journalism is not a crime. Killing
journalists is the crime.”
The message from AJAG is clear and
unflinching. Beyond statements, the group is now calling for a continental boycott of Israel and urging
international institutions—including the International Criminal Court—to treat
these attacks on journalists as war
crimes.
With AJAG now galvanising media voices across
Africa, a new front of resistance has emerged—one that insists on justice,
accountability, and the right of journalists everywhere to report without fear
of being targeted or killed.
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