(RSF/IFEX) – On 12 February 1999, three journalists with dual Gabonese and Congolese nationality were wrongfully dismissed from the Africa No. 1 panafrican radio station. Placide Ibouanga Ndinga, Gervais Rouanga Ngoma and J. Mathurin Yembangoye, Africa No. 1 journalists in Libreville (Gabon), were dismissed after the Congolese government of Denis Sassou Ngesso exerted pressure on […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 12 February 1999, three journalists with dual Gabonese
and
Congolese nationality were wrongfully dismissed from the Africa No. 1
panafrican radio station. Placide Ibouanga Ndinga, Gervais Rouanga Ngoma
and
J. Mathurin Yembangoye, Africa No. 1 journalists in Libreville (Gabon),
were
dismissed after the Congolese government of Denis Sassou Ngesso exerted
pressure on Gabonese authorities and the radio station’s managers.
**New case and update to IFEX alert of 9 February 1999**
In an earlier incident on 8 February, the Congolese government had
revoked
the accreditation of Bienvenu Boudimbou, a correspondent with Africa No.
1
in Brazzaville, and had temporarily suspended the station’s broadcasts
in
the Congolese capital.
On 18 and 24 February, RSF had requested a clarification after the
dismissal
of these journalists, who did nothing more than exercise their right to
inform, and who cannot be suspected of being “militia members” or
“spokespersons for the Congolese opposition,” as claimed by Congolese
authorities. RSF received no response to the letters, addressed to Louis
Barthelemy Mapangou, chairman of the board of Africa No. 1.
