Guinea

(MFWA/IFEX) – Louis Espérance Célestin, chief editor of the weekly newspaper “La Guinée Actuelle”, was arrested by about ten plainclothed men from the Police Criminal Investigations Department (DPJ) on the morning of 1 November 2005. He was then kept at a Conakry detention centre reserved for notorious criminals and highway bandits and later released. According […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 25 September 2005, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation Kiridi Bangoura barred the sale of issue 2333 of the weekly “Jeune Afrique l’Intelligent” (“JA”) from newsstands. Although no reason was given for the seizure, there is speculation that the minister’s action came in response to an article that the newspaper carried on […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: GUINEA: Government to allow private broadcasting New York, August 30, 2005 – President Lansana Conté signed a decree on August 20 allowing private broadcasting in Guinea, one of the last countries in Africa along with Zimbabwe and Eritrea to ban it. The law, which had been […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – Abdoulaye Youlaké Camara, Conakry bureau chief of “Guinée-News”, was detained on 27 July 2005 at a Conakry police station over an online article he had published. According to an MFWA-Guinea source, Youlaké had reported on alleged cheating of customers by gas station attendants in Dixinn, on the outskirts of Conakry, in an article […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 7 June 2005, Guinea News agency bureau chief Abdoulaye Youlaké Camara and information coordinator Youssouf Boundou were arrested at the presidential palace. They were detained until the following day in a police cell reserved for persons accused of undermining the internal security of the state. According to MFWA-Conakry sources, Camara and Boundou […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 24 April 2005, Interior Minister Kiridi Bangoura ordered the temporary seizure of issue 2311 of the weekly magazine “JA L’Intelligent”, which carried a story and commentary on the health of the president, General Lansana Conte. According to MFWA-Conakry sources, the magazine’s 24 to 30 April edition carried a front page article entitled, […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 24 February 2005, Sotigui Kaba, a reporter for the Le Lynx-La Lance media group, was assaulted by a joint force of members of the Anti-Crime Brigade (BAC) and the municipal police while covering a protest march. The reporter’s notebook, press and national identity cards and other items were confiscated during the incident, […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed relief at the 19 February 2005 release of newspaper editor Mohamed Lamine Diallo, known by his pen name Benn Pépito. Pépito was secretly detained for three days in connection with his reporting on an opposition leader wanted by the authorities. “We welcome Benn Pépito’s release but we continue to be […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 14 February 2005, Lansana Sarr, a reporter with the state-owned daily “Horoya”, was beaten by members of the police’s special interventions unit (Brigade Spéciale d’Intervention de la Police, BSIP) and detained for three and a half hours after covering a protest march in Conakry. According to a MFWA-Guinea source in Conakry, employees […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: GUINEA: Security forces arrest prominent editor New York, February 17, 2005 – Guinean security forces arrested the editor of one of the nation’s leading private weeklies at his home in the capital, Conakry, on Wednesday night. Authorities did not disclose charges against Mohamed Lamine Diallo, known […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – MFWA welcomes the government’s recent pledge to liberalise Guinea’s airwaves and permit independent broadcasting soon. Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo announced the decision during the week of 3 January 2005, when he met with leaders of the ruling and opposition parties. The government has set up an interim ministerial commission to work on […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 22 December 2004, journalists were prevented from covering a press conference address by the head of state, General Lansana Conté. According to MFWA-Guinea, the “red berets” of the Presidential Security Unit’s Autonomous Battalion (Bataillon autonome de la sécurité présidentielle, BASP), a special branch of the army responsible for the president’s security, barred […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 8 December 2004, the National Communications Board (Conseil national de la communication, CNC), Guinea’s media regulatory body, announced the lifting of a suspension order against “Le Quotidien” newspaper. The paper was suspended “indefinitely” more than three weeks ago and its editorial team is experiencing serious financial difficulties as a result of the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the closure of “Le Quotidien”, Guinea’s only privately-owned daily, on 13 November 2004. The National Communication Council (Conseil national de la communication, CNC) announced the paper’s “indefinite suspension” following the publication of an article entitled, “The country is in bad shape . . . when will the uprising take place?” […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has criticised Guinean Security Minister Moussa Sampil for confiscating all 950 copies of the weekly “Le Petit matin” on 23 September 2004 because of an article ridiculing his “mistakes”, and then trying to justify the seizure by falsely claiming the newspaper was illegal. “We not only protest the security minister’s arbitrary decision, […]

(MISA/IFEX) – The following is a joint MISA-MFWA alert: The Ministry of Local Government (ministère de l’Administration du Territoire et de la Décentralisation, MATD) has banned the sale of the 9 to 15 May 2004 edition (issue 2261) of the news weekly “Jeune Afrique L’Intelligent”. This is the second time in the last two weeks […]