Regional leaders, policymakers and civil society representatives opened a three-day conference in Cabo Verde on Wednesday to address the growing threats of disinformation, hate speech and information manipulation across West Africa and the Sahel.
The Regional Conference on Information Integrity, held at the National Assembly Hall in Praia, brings together more than 150 delegates from across the region, including government officials, UN representatives and media experts.
Keynote speakers included Lourenço Lopes, Cabo Verde’s assistant secretary of state to the prime minister, Gambia’s information minister Ismaila Ceesay, and Sylvie Coudray, director of UNESCO’s Division for Freedom of Expression and Media Development. Other speakers came from Liberia, the African Union and the United Nations.
Sierra Leone’s delegation is led by Emmanuel Abubakar Benoni Turay, acting director of government information services, who said his country was committed to safeguarding “the integrity of our information ecosystems and upholding the democratic values that bind our nations together.”
The conference agenda features panels on emerging technologies, regulatory innovation and the impact of false information on social cohesion and elections. Organisers, including UNESCO and ECOWAS, hope to finalise the “Praia Action Plan” and adopt a regional model policy on information integrity.
Sierra Leone’s Right to Access Information Commission chairman, Ibrahim Sega Shaw, also joined the delegation.
By Fuad Bangura
