Jean Hélène

 

New York, February 5, 2008—Authorities in the Ivorian economic capital of Abidjan indefinitely suspended the FM broadcasts of France-based Radio France Internationale (RFI) on Friday. The reason given was the absence of a permanent correspondent in country, according to news reports and local sources.

 

In a telephone interview with CPJ, Frank Kouassi, the secretary-general of Ivory Coast’s National Broadcasting Council, accused the station of unethical coverage of the country, citing “several cases of unbalanced information and analysis often out of touch with reality.” He declined to provide specific examples, adding that the government could no longer tolerate such practices. RFI, he said, had failed to appoint a permanent correspondent in the country by a Thursday deadline set by the council in December 2007.

The news media were caught in the middle of political tensions that have split the country between a government-ruled south and a rebel-held north since 2002. In the south and west, militant groups harassed, intimidated, and attacked media outlets as a U.N.-backed power-sharing government installed at the end of 2005 failed to bring much progress on disarmament. Elections were postponed for the second time in two years, and the aftermath of a deadly toxic waste dumping scandal fueled a public row between interim Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny and President Laurent Gbagbo.

May 12, 2006
Original Case: July 13, 2005

Radio France Internationale (RFI)
CENSORED

On May 12, Ivory Coast’s National Council on Audiovisual Communication (CNCA), a media regulatory agency, lifted a 10-month ban on RFI’s FM broadcasts in Abidjan following negotiations between the two sides. The CNCA had banned RFI on July 13, 2005, accusing the France-based broadcaster of biased and unethical reporting. At the time, the council ordered RFI to pay a fine of nine million CFA francs (US$17,619) and to retract two allegedly erroneous reports. RFI declined to do either.

IVORY COAST

In a climate of violence and political tension, journalists were frequently threatened, assaulted, and censored. The country has been divided since a 2002 uprising into a rebel-held north and government-held south. Some 10,000 French and United Nations peacekeepers oversee a fragile cease-fire. The rebels kept the press in their areas on a tight leash, but pro-government forces carried out the majority of the attacks on the media reported in 2005.

New York, July 15, 2005—A media regulatory agency has ordered Radio France Internationale (RFI) to halt its broadcasts in Ivory Coast until it retracts two disputed reports and pays a fine. The order is the latest incident pitting Ivoirian authorities against the France-based public broadcaster, whom President Laurent Gbagbo's supporters accuse of being biased against the government. RFI's Paris headquarters issued a statement today protesting the suspension, and defending its news coverage.

Politics, money, and the press stir a mysterious case. By Julia Crawford

Overview
by Julia Crawford

With the rule of law weak in many African countries, journalists regularly battle threats and harassment, not only from governments but also from rogue elements, such as militias. Repressive legislation is used in many countries to silence journalists who write about sensitive topics such as corruption, mismanagement, and human rights abuses. If fewer journalists were killed or imprisoned in Africa than in some other regions in 2004--two were killed and 19 were behind bars for their work at year's end--the problems they face are insidious and ongoing.

Ivory Coast

Although legislation passed at the end of 2004 eliminated criminal penalties for most press offenses, journalists in Ivory Coast face much more immediate and dangerous threats, including harassment and violence, amid the political tension and uncertainty that have engulfed the country since civil war began in 2002. Serious attacks on the press have occurred in both the government-controlled south and the rebel-held north.

New York, April 21, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the disappearance of French-Canadian freelance journalist Guy-André Kieffer, one of the few foreign investigative reporters still based in Ivory Coast. Kieffer had been receiving death threats in recent weeks, according to his family and friends, who fear that he has been killed.

The missing journalist was also a commodities consultant—specializing in the Ivory Coast’s lucrative cocoa and coffee sectors—for a company that had contracts with the government. He had conducted numerous investigations in these sectors, including exposing corruption. His freelance work included contributions to the Paris-based African business newsletter Lettre du Continent.