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Censored
February 26
All independent newspapers, LEGAL ACTION, CENSORED
The Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) introduced Decree 71, which required all independent newspapers to pay a registration bond of 100,000 dalasis (US$10,000) and provide property as collateral, or face closure. Decree 71 extended Decree 70 (passed by the AFPRC on Feb. 14), which required only new independent newspapers to pay 100,000 dalasis to register. State-owned publications are not subject to either decree. All seven Gambian independent newspapers managed to meet the requirements of Decree 71 but were prohibited from publishing for the two weeks during which their affidavits were being reviewed. CPJ protested the imposition of the decrees to the Gambian government and urged that they be revoked.
March
The independent press, CENSORED
The Gambian Ministry of Justice ordered the state-run printing press to stop printing independent newspapers. Five of the six newspapers, The Point, New Citizen, The Gambian, Gambia News and Monthly Report and Toiler were forced to print their editions in Senegal or pay higher prices to print on the private presses of other independent newspapers. The Point acquired its own printing press, but the New Citizen, The Gambian, Gambian News and Monthy Report and Toiler have gone out of business. CPJ protested the measure to the Gambian government, and demanded that it be lifted immediately.
For more information contact africaweb@cpj.org