27 September 2001

U.S. Media Executive Reports Zambian Outpouring of Sympathy

Washington -- Joan Mower, an executive with the media foundation Freedom Forum, says the outpouring of grief and sympathy by Zambians for the thousands of Americans killed in the devastating terrorist attacks of September 11 was one of the most extraordinary displays of support for the United States she has ever seen.

Mower, a former Associated Press reporter who is Freedom Forum's director of programs in Africa and Latin America, told the Washington File September 27 that she traveled to Zambia on September 8 to run a two-day training conference of African journalists with the theme "Media and Political Change."

Freedom Forum's more than $1,000 million endowment makes it one of the world's largest organizations devoted to spreading free speech.

Mower said she arrived in Zambia just three days before teams of hijackers took over two passenger planes and crashed them into the two World Trade Center towers in New York. A resulting fire caused the towers' collapse and total destruction. At about the same time another hijacked aircraft plowed into the Pentagon building, U.S. military headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, near Washington. A fourth plane, thought to be heading for Washington, crashed in Pennsylvania after an apparent fight between the hijackers and passengers. Authorities say more than 6,000 people were killed in the attacks. The prime suspect is the terrorist network al Qaeda, run by Usama Bin Laden, a Saudi-born Muslim religious extremist.

Immediately after the attacks, which Mower said she saw on cable television in Lusaka, "there was the most incredible outpouring from the Zambians," she said. "People on the street would just come up and say how sorry they were for what happened. It was quite heartwarming to be in a place where people felt so badly about it [the attacks]."

Asked to comment on some news reports that showed crowds of Muslims jubilant after the attacks, Mower said in Zambia -- whose population is estimated to be between 24 percent and 49 percent Hindu and Muslim -- "I saw the exact opposite of that. Everybody you met, in the hotel or on the street, had some kind word of sympathy to say. I remember meeting the day after the attacks with Jeffrey Mulama, editor of the Daily Mail, who said: 'I can't believe what happened. Is everybody OK back home?'"

(Freedom Forum headquarters, one of the tallest buildings in Rosslyn, Virginia -- located in Arlington -- is within sight of the Pentagon and was only a few miles from the flight path of the jetliner that crashed into the Pentagon building, killing some 200 people.)

Mower said: "We got expressions of sympathy from everybody from the man on the street to the highest officials in government. As a matter of fact, Vice President Enoch Kavindele called for a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the attack before he opened our conference -- it was really amazing."

In terms of personal security, Mower said, "I don't think any of our delegation felt scared, especially after people were so vocal and forthright in condemning the attacks as outrageous and totally unjustified." Zambia, she added, "is a very spiritual nation with a strong religious presence, and everyone was absolutely horrified by the attacks. In our hotel they were just standing around in shock and couldn't believe what had happened."

Commenting on the Freedom Forum program, Mower said: "We brought journalists from all over Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Namibia" to take part in workshops and panel discussions on enhancing their journalistic skills. "Our partners in the project were ZNBC, the government-owned radio and television network, and ZAMCOM, the Zambian Institute of Mass Communications."

A highlight of the Freedom Forum program in Zambia, Mower said, was "the fact that we organized the first live radio and TV debate among seven leading presidential candidates. It was an American-style 90-minute debate with 200 people in the audience that included their questions as well as questions from journalists representing independent news organizations and the government press. I mean it was really like democracy in action," Mower said with enthusiasm.

Asked about her overall impression of democracy in Zambia, Mower said: "I think it's in pretty good shape. President Chiluba was basically talked out of running for a third term of office and the media seems fairly free to operate. So I think there is really an overall democratic tone. There is definitely a hunger and thirst for news and knowledge there."