UPDATE
FEBRUARY 11, 2008
Original alert on January 22, 2008
Posted February 15, 2008
Radio France Internationale
CENSORED
The Gambian Department of State for Communications and Information Technology lifted a ban on the Paris-based broadcaster Radio France Internationale (RFI) on January 25, in Banjul. The Gambian authorities said they were able to lift the 10-day ban after RFI renewed a broadcasting contract that had expired on December 22, 2007.
On January 21, a press statement from the Department of State for Communication and Information Technology refuted an RFI report that three suspected murderers of four French tourists in Mauritania had fled south through Gambia into Guinea-Bissau. The government statement countered that the Mauritanian fugitives had fled to Guinea-Bissau through Senegal and added that the government was “looking forward” to RFI “correcting” its report. But the Banjul-based relay transmitter for RFI was blocked soon after the January 21 RFI report was aired.