Washington, DC — Ghana, Mali, and Mauritius had the highest press freedom ranking in Africa in Freedom House's annual Freedom of the Press Report released in Washington, DC.

The three countries were ranked 53rd in the world on an index of press freedom. The press in South Africa, Cape Verde, Namibia and Sao Tome and Principe were also rated as "free," although South Africa saw its press freedom rating decline in the last year.

At the other end of the scale, Eritrea, Libya, Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea were ranked in the bottom ten countries in the world, with the press there categorized as "not free." The four countries are among the worst press abusers in Africa.

Overall in sub-Saharan Africa, 23 countries (48 percent) were classified as "not free", seven (15 percent) as "free" and 18 (37 percent) as "partly free". There were no status changes this year.

In addition to South Africa, Botswana, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Lesotho, Mauritania, Senegal and Tanzania also saw their press freedom rating decline.

"Official harassment of the press as well as increased use of legal means to restrict media freedom were key factors in many declines," the organization wrote in the report.

Senegal's press freedom declined again this year due to "an increase in both legal and extralegal action taken against media," according to Freedom House. Last year, Senegal was downgraded from free to partly free because of the "growing authoritarian trend in the policies of President Abdoulaye Wade, exemplified by the postponement of municipal elections."

Comoros, Sierra Leone, Angola and Liberia improved their press freedom rating.