Very sad indeed. I did see this one coming I must admit as we continue to dilly-dally on apprehending Gbagbo.

Haruna.
 

-----Original Message-----
From: RSF Afrique / RSF Africa <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thu, Feb 10, 2011 1:39 pm
Subject: (English version) COTE D'IVOIRE - Media freedom set back 20 years


English (http://en.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-media-freedom-set-back-20-years-10-02-2011,39531.html)
For French version see (http://fr.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-un-recul-de-vingt-ans-pour-la-10-02-2011,39530.html)

Reporters Without Borders (http://www.rsf.org)
Alert

10 February 2011

COTE D'IVOIRE

Media freedom set back 20 years


ReportersWithout Borders is deeply disturbed by a clampdown on the media by LaurentGbagbo’s government. The leadership of the National Press Council (CNP), whichregulates the print media, has just been replaced by Gbagbo's supporters. TheUN radio station, Onuci FM, has hadits permit withdrawn. And many journalists are still exposed to the threat ofviolence.
 
“LaurentGbagbo’s government has just taken over the CNP, a regulatory body known forbeing serious and impartial,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-generalJean-François Julliard said. “It has seized control in an arbitrary andpolitically-motivated move. Given the political affiliation of the peopleco-opted by the Gbagbo camp to replace its leadership, we fear the CNP willcease to perform its regulatory function and will henceforth be used to punishopposition journalists and media harshly, and to protect media that are loyalto Gbagbo.”
 
Julliardadded: “A manoeuvre of this kind is liable to set Côte d'Ivoire back 20 yearsin terms of respect for media freedom.”
 
The CNP’spresident, Eugène Dié Kacou, and itsentire board of governors were fired by a presidential decree signed by Gbagboon 4 February. Kacou has been replaced by DébiDally, who, as head of the IvorianPress Agency (AIP), fired AIPjournalists for covering a march on the state-owned Radio-Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI) organized by the oppositionHouphouëtiste Rally for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) on 16 December.
 
Severaljournalists who are members or known supporters of Gbagbo’s party, the IvorianPopular Front (FPI), have been appointed to the CNP. They include César Etou, the editor of thepro-Gbagbo newspaper Notre Voie, and N'Goran Aliali, the publisher of Le Quotidien, a newspaper funded byGbagbo’s son-in-law, Stéphane Kipré. ArmandBohoui, a member of first lady Simone Gbagbo’s staff and a former Notre Voie journalist, has also beenappointed to the CNP.
 
Kacou wasfired regardless of the fact that he was appointed for an irrevocablethree-year period in 2009. The Ivorian authorities have provided no officialreason for his dismissal but they have openly accused the CNP of being too softon the opposition press.
 
Gbagbo’scommunication minister, Ouattara Gnonzié, set the tone by telling Radio France Internationale that “theend of tolerance was a self-defence measure” and that calls for sedition orinsurrection would henceforth be “punished harshly.”
 
Withouteven notifying the management of the Côte d'Ivoire branch of the French TVchannel Canal+, Gnonzié gave ordersfor the Canal+ equipment stored at atransmission centre in the Abidjan district of Abobo to be requisitioned forthree months from 8 February.
 
Thebroadcasting permit of Onuci FM, theradio station operated by the United Nations peace-keeping mission in Côted'Ivoire (ONUCI), was cancelled yesterday. “The frequencies assigned to ONUCIas part of the execution of its mandate in Côte d'Ivoire are withdrawn,” theNational Council for Broadcasting Communication (CNCA) said in a communiquéthat was read out on RTI.
 
Finally,Reporters Without Borders reiterates its concern about two journalists employedby Télévision Notre Patrie (TVNP) – aTV station that supports the former rebel New Force – who have been held at thegendarmerie’s criminal investigation department since their arrest on theirarrival in Abidjan on 28 January. The two journalists, Abou Sanogo and GnahoréCharly, are charged with “rebellion” and “threatening national security.”
 
ReportersWithout Borders has been told that they were hit with rifle butts at the timeof their arrest at Abidjan’s air-base and were subjected to other forms ofmistreatment, including having lighted cigarettes stubbed out on their bodies(more information: http://en.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-two-reporters-for-northern-tv-31-01-2011,39434.html).
 
Localretransmission of the French TV news channels TV5 and France 24 ismeanwhile still suspended.


----
Ambroise PIERRE
Bureau Afrique / Africa Desk
Reporters sans frontières / Reporters Without Borders
47, rue Vivienne
75002 Paris, France
Tel : (33) 1 44 83 84 76
Fax : (33) 1 45 23 11 51
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