(MISA/IFEX) – The following is a joint MISA and Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) alert: On 11 May 2004, Méité Sindou, a journalist and director-general of the Mayama Group, which publishes the daily “Le Patriote” newspaper, escaped a kidnapping attempt when three assailants abducted another journalist, mistaking him for Sindou. According to MFWA-Cote d’Ivoire, […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The following is a joint MISA and Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) alert:
On 11 May 2004, Méité Sindou, a journalist and director-general of the Mayama Group, which publishes the daily “Le Patriote” newspaper, escaped a kidnapping attempt when three assailants abducted another journalist, mistaking him for Sindou.
According to MFWA-Cote d’Ivoire, at about 7:00 p.m. (local time) on 11 May, three unidentified individuals, who had stationed themselves close to the gate of the Mayama Group’s offices, accosted Ouattara Kader, general manager of “Le Patriote”. They commandeered his car at gunpoint and drove away with him.
After interrogating him, however, Ouattara Kader’s assailants realised that he was not Sindou, whom they said was their target. They left him at the outskirts of town and told him they would leave the car near the Treichville teaching hospital, about 10 kilometres from the newspaper’s offices. Although Ouattara Kader has since reported the incident to police, no further information on the case has been provided.
