President Issoufou will be the first head of state to sign the document, which also calls for putting press freedom higher on the African agenda.

The Declaration of Table Mountain was adopted at the World Newspaper Congress held in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2007, the annual meeting of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). Numerous press freedom and civil society organisations, including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have endorsed the declaration, which identifies criminal defamation and 'insult' laws as amongst the most severe obstacles to securing the future of the independent press in Africa and calls for their repeal. More on the Declaration can be found at http://www.declarationoftablemountain.org

The signing ceremony is organised by WAN-IFRA, the World Editors Forum, the African Editors Forum, and the Maison de la Presse in Niger and representatives from all the organisations will attend the ceremony.

Photos and text from the ceremony will be available.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, WAN-IFRA, 96 bis, rue Beaubourg, 75003 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 07. Fax: +33 1 42 78 92 33. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail:larry.kilman@wan-ifra.org