(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Eugène Die Kacou, president of the National Press Commission (Commission nationale de la presse, CNP), RSF protested the suspension “until further notice” of the publication “Solidarité Paalga”. RSF asked the CNP president to reverse his decision. “This is the first time a newspaper has been suspended in Côte d’Ivoire […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Eugène Die Kacou, president of the National Press Commission (Commission nationale de la presse, CNP), RSF protested the suspension “until further notice” of the publication “Solidarité Paalga”. RSF asked the CNP president to reverse his decision. “This is the first time a newspaper has been suspended in Côte d’Ivoire since Laurent Gbagbo came to power in October 2000,” said Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general. “It appears that this publication does not respect certain provisions of the press law, but nothing justifies this indefinite suspension, which constitutes an attack on press freedom,” added Ménard.
According to information collected by RSF, in a 12 April 2001 letter, CNP decided to suspend the bi-monthly “Solidarité Paalga” until further notice. CNP cites three reasons for this decision: the nationality of publishing director Nicolas Sahouidi, who is from Burkina Faso, a complete disrespect of the legal deposit system and the lack of professional journalists amongst the editorial staff. Sahouidi and RSF explained that the publication of his newspaper was authorised by the Ministry of the Interior and the CNP’s legal deposit department, and that his nationality appeared in all documents necessary to obtain these authorisations. He also added that “Solidarité Paalga” has always submitted copies to the legal deposit department and to the CNP, as the law specifies. To conclude, Sahouidi admitted that no one from the editorial staff possesses a press card, and explained that the laws in Côte d’Ivoire classify professional journalists as people who collect and distribute information and who draw their main source of income from this process.
