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2002 was a particularly tough year for President Blaise Compaoré, as accusations mounted that he is one of West Africa’s most corrupt leaders and supports insurrection in neighboring Ivory Coast. Members of the media covering the corruption have been harassed, while the December 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo remains unsolved.
The people of Burkina Faso have grown used to President Blaise Compaoré’s broken promises to respect the law. So on March 30, after the president opened the “National Day of Forgiveness” with an extraordinary apology for all crimes committed by his government, hundreds of people took to the streets to demand justice, not apologies.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) remains deeply concerned that justice is not being served in the murder case of Norbert Zongo, late editor of the weekly L’Indépendant in the capital, Ouagadougou. Your government has declared tomorrow an official Day of Forgiveness for all citizens to reflect on Burkina Faso’s painful recent history. While this is a laudable undertaking, it will inevitably fail if suspected human rights abuses by your administration, such as the grisly murder of Zongo, are not fully investigated and their perpetrators brought to justice.
TWO YEARS OF CIVIL UNREST SPARKED BY THE 1998 MURDER of a popular journalist have galvanized the independent press and forced President Blaise Compaoré to broaden his government. On November 12, Compaoré announced a new cabinet that included members of at least 10 opposition parties. The move followed widening protests, including general strikes in April…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the April 16 closure of Horizon FM, a privately-owned radio station based in Ouagadougou. The station appears to have been closed because it criticized your government for failing to adequately investigate the December 1998 murder of Norbert Zongo, editor of the newspaper L’Indépendant.
President Blaise Compaoré seized power in 1987 before seeking legitimacy through the ballot box in 1991 and again in 1998. But his regime still draws much of its authority from the army, especially from the infamous Presidential Guard Regiment (RSP), which local independent journalists blamed for several extrajudicial killings last year. It remains dangerous to…