(RSF/IFEX) – Seven journalists from the northern town of Gonaives who had been in hiding since 21 November 2002 have fled to Port-au-Prince. They were all threatened by the Cannibal Army, a pro-Aristide militia terrorising the town. “The government uses armed gangs to persecute journalists,” one of the journalists said. Radio Etincelle director Esdras Mondélus; […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Seven journalists from the northern town of Gonaives who had been in hiding since 21 November 2002 have fled to Port-au-Prince. They were all threatened by the Cannibal Army, a pro-Aristide militia terrorising the town. “The government uses armed gangs to persecute journalists,” one of the journalists said.
Radio Etincelle director Esdras Mondélus; Henry Fleurimond, of Radio Kiskeya; Radio Etincelle reporters Renais Noël Jeune, Jean Niton Guérino and Gédéon Présandieu; René Josué, of Signal FM; and Jean-Robert François, of Radio Métropole, all took refuge in Port-au-Prince on 30 November.
The seven journalists, all based in Gonaives, had been in hiding since 21 November. They first hid inside the bishop’s offices, but church officials forced them to leave on 28 November, fearing an attack. The next day, the hotel they had moved to was fired at by members of the Cannibal Army, an armed group close to the country’s ruling Fanmi Lavalas party. The journalists then fled to the northern city of Cap Haitien, and the next day they flew to Port-au-Prince, assisted by the Haitian Journalists’ Association (Association des journalistes haïtiens, AJH).
The journalists were threatened by the leader of the Cannibal Army, Amiot Métayer, after reporting on demonstrations at which protesters called for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s resignation. Métayer was previously prosecuted for physically attacking opposition supporters in December 2001. He escaped from prison in August 2002, and the government says it has not rearrested him in order to avoid a bloodbath. On 29 November, the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) said the Cannibal Army was terrorising Gonaives, that police had virtually disappeared from the town, and that two other journalists there, Frantz Renel Lebrun, of Radio Ibo, and Eric Julien, of Caraïbes FM, were also forced to go into hiding.
“The government uses armed gangs to persecute journalists,” Mondélus told the Associated Press (AP). He also said the groups in Gonaives were coordinating with others in Port-au-Prince and received their orders from Aristide. Mondélus told RSF that after he and his colleagues left the town, Gonaives was left without any credible media. Aside from Radio Etincelle, the other stations in the town only broadcast music, and Radio Indépendante, a pro-Fanmi Lavalas station, had suspended its news programmes.
AP also reported that the Cap Haitien station Radio Maxima suspended its news programmes on 1 December after its journalists received threats from Aristide supporters during a pro-government demonstration. According to the AJH, 64 journalists have been threatened so far this year, 62 by the government and two by the opposition.
