and other voices critical to the present government (iv) the emergence of “death squads” (v) political intolerance tending to aggravate regionalism (vi) lack of confidence in state institutions, and (vii) a feeling of citizens’ resignation and conformity before the disfunction of the state, amongst other factors. Some of these aspects – widespread fear above all – had already been identified as an underlying factor in the AMB of 2014. In this round, it was concluded that the problem had intensified. Another negative aspect mentioned in the discussions is the existence of laws or parts of laws restricting the freedom of the press, namely: Law nº 12/79 of 2 December (State Secrets Act), Law nº 19/91 of 18 August (State Security Crimes Act), Law nº 16/2012 of 14 August (Public Probity Act), the Press Act itself and Decree nº 40/2018 of 23 July, which was developed in secrecy by the government through GABINFO (Gabinete de Informação – an institution under the supervision of the prime minister’s office, which was created by presidential decree nº 4/95 of 16 October as an advisory agency to the government in matters of the press), without consultation or prior information to the media. The Decree undermines the legal conditions and the enabling environment for practising journalism. This Decree implements and increases licensing taxes for the media and for the accreditation of foreign correspondents, set at between 50,000 and 3 million meticais (MT) (US$783 and US$46,789)1 for the licensing of different information agencies and of between MT30,000 and MT500,000 (US$469 and US$7,813) for the accreditation of correspondents and freelancers. The Decree was challenged by media professionals as, in their understanding, the document has serious implications for the exercising of journalistic activities in the country, which can jeopardise the rights provided for in the constitution. The approval of this Decree is, according to the panel, a clear sign of the government’s unwillingness to improve the media environment and aggravates the lack of transparency. When challenged on the issue, GABINFO indicated that they were suspending the implementation of the aforementioned legal instrument (Decree nº 40/2018 of 23 July) until it was revised, which is of little utility, for that decree was published in the Government Gazette (Boletim da República) and hence being in force it cannot be suspended by political declarations. Meanwhile, a group of civil society organisations (CSOs) lead by MISA- Mozambique called on the Constitutional Council (CC) via the Ombudsman (Provedor de Justiça) for the successive verification of the Decree’s constitutionality, to which the CC has yet to reply. With regard to access to the media, broadcast media (radio and television) should be highlighted, with emphasis on Rádio Moçambique (RM), whose broadcasts reach most of the national territory with the content being produced in most of Mozambique’s national languages. In turn, although television has less coverage being restricted to provincial capitals and important towns, it still has considerable influence; considering the high levels of illiteracy and 1 7 US$ = United States Dollar AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER MOZAMBIQUE 2018