(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 29 September 2003 letter to President Omar Bongo, CPJ expressed deep concern over the deteriorating state of press freedom in Gabon. Recently, Gabonese authorities suspended two private newspapers and renewed the suspension of a third. On 17 September, police seized the third edition of the satirical bimonthly “Sub-Version” at the airport […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 29 September 2003 letter to President Omar Bongo, CPJ expressed deep concern over the deteriorating state of press freedom in Gabon. Recently, Gabonese authorities suspended two private newspapers and renewed the suspension of a third.
On 17 September, police seized the third edition of the satirical bimonthly “Sub-Version” at the airport in the capital, Libreville, and detained four of the paper’s staff for questioning for several hours. Kimote Memey, Abel Mimongo, Stanislas Boubanga, and Chartrin Ondamba had gone to the airport to collect copies of the paper, which is printed in Cameroon to reduce costs.
On 19 September, the National Council on Communications (CNC) sent a letter to the newspaper’s publications director ordering “Sub-Version” to cease publication, according to journalists at the paper. The letter also accused “Sub-Version” of carrying articles “attacking the dignity of the president, his family, and the institutions of the Republic.” Journalists at the newspaper told CPJ that the order stemmed from an article that appeared in the paper’s second edition on 20 August suggesting that first lady Lucie Bongo was meddling in politics.
The same day, the CNC sent letters to two other publications: the bimonthly newspaper “La Sagaie” and the private bimonthly “Misamu”. “La Sagaie” was banned for inciting tribal division and printing reports “attacking the freedom and dignity of the institutions of the Gabonese republic.” Local journalists said the charges stemmed from an article alleging that people from the southeastern Haut-Ogoué region dominate the country’s government and army. “Misamu”-which the council had suspended on 13 May because of an ownership dispute between the paper’s editor and a senator-received a letter informing the newspaper that the decision to suspend it had been extended until Gabonese authorities rule on the newspaper’s ownership. Local journalists told CPJ that the ownership issue is being used as an excuse to keep the paper closed because it has been critical of the government.
On 22 August, Communications Minister Mehdi Teale appeared on Gabonese state television and warned both “La Sagaie” and “Sub-Version” of “legal action” and “severe punishment,” according to local journalists. The same day, the CNC sent a memo to the Interior Ministry urging the ministry to seize both newspapers and monitor their content, according to journalists who have read the letter.
Also on 22 August, Noel Ngwa Nguema, a contributor to “Sub-Version”, was invited by the Minister of Finance to meet with President Bongo. Nguema told CPJ that during the meeting, which CNC President Pierre-Mari Ndong and Communications Minister Teale also attended, President Bongo accused “Sub-Version” of attacking his government by writing about the first lady. According to Nguema, President Bongo threw a heavy ornament at the journalist and attempted to physically assault him. President Bongo also told the CNC president that he never wanted to see the newspaper again, said Nguema.
Local journalists told CPJ that President Bongo held a meeting with members of the private press on 26 September during which he urged journalists to report more favorably on the government.