(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed shock and condemnation of a heavy-handed police crackdown that saw all Sud FM radio affiliates throughout the country shuttered on 17 October 2005. The stations’ employees have also been arrested. At around 8:40 a.m. (local time) on 17 October, Sud FM’s Dakar station was forcefully shut down by police, who […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed shock and condemnation of a heavy-handed police crackdown that saw all Sud FM radio affiliates throughout the country shuttered on 17 October 2005. The stations’ employees have also been arrested.
At around 8:40 a.m. (local time) on 17 October, Sud FM’s Dakar station was forcefully shut down by police, who proceeded to arrest all employees on site at the time. When reached by RSF, authorities at Dakar’s central police headquarters refused comment.
Later that same morning, police arrested a crew from the international broadcaster TV5 that had gone to film a crowd gathered in front of the Sud FM studio, near the port of Dakar. Journalist Mata Maïga and cameraman Cheikh Sadibou Mané were released shortly thereafter.
Sud FM Dakar employees have not been allowed any outside contact since their arrest. According to AFP, at least 19 people remain in custody at Dakar central headquarters.
Charges have not been brought against the station. Shortly after the arrests however, Interior Minister Ousamane Ngom demanded that stations cease broadcasting an interview with Salif Sadio, a leader of the rebel Casamance independence movement which has taken up arms against the Senegalese government since the early 1980s. Speaking on Radio Futur Média (RFM), the minister said that Sud FM had been closed “in accordance with the law, for breaching State security.”
During the long interview broadcast on Sud FM, the military leader of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance, MFDC) notably stated, “I will return home once I have kicked Senegal out of Casamance.” According to one Dakar journalist, journalists’ refusal to hand over the interview tapes to police may have sparked the arrests.
The interview with Sadio was conducted by Ibrahim Gassama, head of Sud FM’s Ziguinchor affiliate in Casamance, southern Senegal. Gassama’s colleagues report that he is still in custody at central police headquarters. The interview with the rebel leader was broadcast simultaneously on Sud group affiliates throughout the country. Five other affiliates were shuttered over the course of the day, while Saint-Louis du Sénégal’s (northeast) station manager was summoned for questioning. Only the group’s station in neighbouring Gambia’s capital, Banjul, remained open.
Sud FM is an independent radio station which boasts one of the highest listenerships in the country. It belongs to the privately-owned Sud Communication group and has been broadcasting since 1994.
