Pro-opposition newspaper editor receives repeated death threats
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF said it was appalled by the impunity with which anonymous phone callers have been making death threats for more than a week against Eddy Péhé, managing editor of the opposition daily “Le Nouveau Réveil”, forcing him to flee his home. “This latest episode in the grim saga endured by Côte d’Ivoire’s journalists […]
Opposition daily “Dernières Nouvelles d’Abidjan” journalist assaulted
(MFWA/IFEX) – Brahima Gollé, a journalist at the political desk of the pro-opposition daily, “Dernières Nouvelles d’Abidjan”, was attacked and beaten by uniformed strangers on 4 August 2005 at 10:00 p.m. (local time), in Yopougon, a suburb north of Abidjan. The attack appears to have been in retaliation for an article he had written. Prior […]
CAPSULE REPORT: “Young Patriots” impose reign of terror in Abidjan
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release: Two weeks after Ivorian authorities suspended Radio France Internationale’s local FM broadcasts over its handling of local news, Reporters Without Borders today condemned an “unacceptable deterioration” in the safety of journalists in Abidjan as a result of a “reign of terror” imposed by a pro-government militia […]
State broadcaster told to stop opposition coverage
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 28 July 2005 CPJ press release: IVORY COAST: State broadcaster told to stop opposition coverage New York, July 28, 2005 – A group of armed, uniformed soldiers yesterday stormed the Abidjan offices of state broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI) and instructed directors not to broadcast footage of opposition members, […]
Pro-government militia attack private newspapers
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 26 July 2005 CPJ press release: IVORY COAST: CPJ condemns attacks on private newspapers New York, July 26, 2005 – Pro-government militia forcibly disrupted the distribution of private newspapers around the administrative capital Abidjan yesterday, threatening the papers and forcing some to evacuate their premises, according to local sources. […]
Radio France Internationale suspended
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 15 July 2005 CPJ press release: IVORY COAST: Radio France Internationale suspended New York, July 15, 2005 – A media regulatory agency has ordered Radio France Internationale (RFI) to halt its broadcasts in Ivory Coast until it retracts two disputed reports and pays a fine. The order is the […]
Two newspaper editors assaulted
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 14 May 2005, Laurent Aké, editor-in-chief of the independent daily, “L’Intelligent d’Abidjan”, and Traoré Moussa, editor of another independent, “Nord Sud”, were assaulted at Grand Bassam, 30 km east of Abidjan, by activists of the ruling Ivorian Popular Front (FPI). The journalists also lost their tape recorders and 40,000 CFA francs (approx. […]
Four Abidjan journalists receive death threats from rebels during visit to Bouaké
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has written to the leader of the New Forces (Forces nouvelles, FN) rebel movement, Guillaume Soro, protesting threats and intimidation by his men towards four journalists from Abidjan during their visit to the rebel stronghold of Bouaké on 14 April 2005. The journalists were in the area to cover high-level talks between […]
Journalist viciously beaten by demonstrating police officers
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an abridged version of a 30 March 2005 RSF statement: RSF has called for the launch of a thorough investigation into the vicious attack on Fofana Mambé, a photojournalist with the privately-owned daily “Soir Info”, on 29 March 2005. Mambé was brutally assaulted in Abidjan’s Plateau district, near a demonstration […]
Camera operator and sound engineer for national television station assaulted and detained by police
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 12 March 2005, Moussa N’Daye and Vincent Guéhou, a camera operator and sound engineer, respectively, for the National Broadcasting Corporation’s television station, were assaulted and detained by police officers from Abidjan’s 3rd district. At the time of the incident, they were covering a conference on vehicular traffic in the commune of Adjamé, […]
RSF calls for suspect in Kieffer disappearance to be flown to France for questioning
(RSF/IFEX) – On 10 March 2005, RSF urged both the Ivorian and French authorities to cooperate with a French investigating judge’s request for Ivorian citizen Michel Legré to be transferred to France for two months for questioning. Legré is the primary suspect in the April 2004 disappearance of journalist Guy-André Kieffer in Abidjan. Kieffer has […]
RSF urges UN secretary-general to intervene in presidential takeover of state media
(RSF/IFEX) – On 15 December 2004, the day of the announced implementation of sanctions against certain individuals involved in Côte d’Ivoire’s ongoing crisis, RSF wrote to United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan, asking him to intercede in an attempt to restore normality at state broadcaster RadioTélévision Ivoirienne (RTI). “RTI was the target of a takeover […]
RSF reveals government plan to control state media
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an excerpt from RSF’s report “Chronicle of a state media hijack”: Seizing control of the state media was one of the linchpins of President Laurent Gbagbo’s failed bid to recover all of Cote d’Ivoire’s territory. In just one morning, on 4 November, supporters of the president and his party succeeded […]
President Gbagbo urged to assist opposition press, bring order to state-owned media
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF statement: President urged to aid recovery of opposition press and bring order to state-owned media Reporters Without Borders has welcomed a statement from Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo, condemning the ransacking of opposition and independent newspaper offices on 4 November and the opening of an investigation to punish those […]
CPJ calls on French and Ivoirian authorities to conduct thorough investigations into fatal shooting of journalist
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 12 November 2004 CPJ press release: Ivory Coast: Journalist killed covering violent clashes New York, November 12, 2004 – Antoine Massé, a correspondent for the private daily Le Courrier d’Abidjan, was fatally shot November 7 while covering violent clashes between French troops and demonstrators in the western Ivoirian town […]
Journalist killed during clashes with French troops in Duékoué
(RSF/IFEX) – Antoine Massé, a local correspondent for “Le Courrier d’Abidjan”, a privately-owned daily that supports President Laurent Gbagbo, was killed on the morning of 7 November 2004 during clashes between the Ivorian army, demonstrators and members of the French peacekeeping force (Force Licorne), RSF has confirmed. “Le Courrier d’Abidjan” reported that Massé, who was […]