Communication law specialist Justine Limpitlaw said Wednesday that attacks against journalists in Mozambique are "inadmissible", considering that although the country has positive aspects in its legislative framework, it is necessary to ensure the safety of journalists.

"There is a lack of protection of journalists. It is unacceptable that a journalist mysteriously disappears," Justine Limpitlaw told Lusa, moments after the launch of the 2nd edition of the Manual and Media Law in Southern Africa, a work she wrote.

For Justine Limpitlaw, despite having several positive aspects in the legislation, in the scope of protecting the freedom of the press and of expression, the country has not yet managed to guarantee instruments that protect the professionals in the area, especially at a time when it is going through a war against insurgency in Cabo Delgado.

"The levels of press freedom in Mozambique remain very low. Recently, there have been several cases of journalists being detained, tortured, kidnapped, or criminally prosecuted for reporting on the insurgency in Cabo Delgado," reads the Mozambican chapter of Justine Limpitlaw's work.

"When a country faces a problem like insurgency, which sometimes has motivations associated with religion, it becomes particularly imperative to have a more robust press," Justine Limpitlaw said.

On the other hand, according to the specialist, Mozambique needs to adapt the legislation to the current context, as, in some cases, the country still uses a legal framework based on the reality of the colonial period.

"There is a lot of good stuff in the Republic's Constitution about freedom of speech and press, but are these laws being implemented," questioned Justine Limpitlaw.

One of the revisions that the specialist considers fundamental is associated with the lack of a legal framework for the performance of the press in the digital era, marked by new ways of doing journalism.

"There is a lack of independent legal instruments in Mozambique that regulate, for example, `broadcasts', and at the same time, in many cases, there is a very close relationship between some media and the government, which I don't think is healthy," said Justine Limpitlaw.

In three volumes, the Manual for Media Law in Southern Africa, launched this Wednesday in Maputo, analyzes communication law in the region, pointing out the updating and implementation of laws as one of the main challenges for states, although it admits the complexity of each nation.

In the chapter on Mozambique, the study does not address the proposals submitted to parliament to update the press law, namely the proposed Communication Law and the Broadcasting Law, two instruments that the government hopes will "update" Mozambican legislation to the current context.

In Southern Africa, according to the study, Namibia is the nation with the best environment with regard to freedom of the press and freedom of expression, while South Africa, which has the best legislative framework, has been on the decline in several respects, with reports of alleged attempts by the South African secret service to spy on journalists.

The Kingdom of Essuatíni is singled out as the nation that has the worst environment when it comes to press freedom in almost every dimension.

The study, sponsored by the German Konrand Adenauer Stiftung foundation, does not analyze press freedom in Angola, which is also part of Southern Africa, and the author justifies it with the fact that she was unable to locate local researchers who were available to collaborate in conducting the research.