(RSF/IFEX) – Claims by a former rebel group based in the northern city of Gonaïves linking radio journalist Nancy Roc to the 2003 murder of its leader are “irresponsible and gratuitous” and pose a threat to her safety, RSF said. “It is very disturbing that the leader of an armed group, Winter Etienne, spokesman of […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Claims by a former rebel group based in the northern city of Gonaïves linking radio journalist Nancy Roc to the 2003 murder of its leader are “irresponsible and gratuitous” and pose a threat to her safety, RSF said.
“It is very disturbing that the leader of an armed group, Winter Etienne, spokesman of the National Resistance Front (FRN), has made baseless allegations associating a journalist’s name with a plot and a murder,” the organisation said. “Reporters Without Borders welcomes the Haitian government’s rapid response in according Nancy Roc protection and asks that it be maintained for as long as necessary,” RSF added. Roc hosts a programme on Radio Métropole called “Metropolis”.
Comments by Etienne on Radio Vision 2000 and Caraïbes FM on 6 November 2004 suggested that Roc was involved in a plot leading to the September 2003 murder of Amyot Métayer, the leader of the Cannibal Army (as the FRN was then called). Etienne also suggested that Roc was linked to a recent attempt to kill Métayer’s brother, Butter.
When reached by RSF, Roc said she went to Gonaïves to prepare a report on relief work in the city since the disastrous flooding caused by tropical storm Jeanne in September, and on the impact of local corruption on the distribution of humanitarian aid. She said she contacted Etienne, who is also in charge of the city’s port, and set up two appointments, but each time he failed to turn up.
During a 30 October interview with President Boniface Alexandre on Radio Métropole, Roc also reported that Etienne denied that he had ever been a member of the Cannibal Army.
After Etienne made his allegations against Roc, she received a call from the government offering its support. She currently has police protection 24 hours a day. Despite Etienne’s allegations, her report on Gonaïves was broadcast as planned on 6 November.
