Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)

Employees of Burkina Radio and Burkina Television, among others, staged a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Communications to protest government censorship. The protest was triggered by a recent directive from the Ministry of Communications’ chief director to edit a news story about a 29 June opposition protest.

The managing director of Planète FM, Mandian Sidibe, has been charged with libel for comments he made during a radio programme. Planete FM – owned by an outspoken opposition leader – has been subjected to a series of attacks, including recent gunshots at their premises by armed police officers.

This month marks exactly seven years since Chief Ebrimah Manneh, a reporter in The Gambia, disappeared. Send a letter now calling for justice in his case!

The Gambian National Assembly has passed an amendment to the Information and Communication Act, imposing stiffer sanctions on persons found guilty of using the Internet to spread false news about the government.

Pa Sulay Jadama was released on 26 June 2013, after being held incommunicado for six days by the National Intelligence Agency for taking photographs at the Banjul Magistrates’ Court. Meanwhile, the news editor of a pro-government newspaper has reportedly been missing since 26 June.

Armed conflicts, violent activities of fundamentalist groups and drug cartels and general intolerance for free expression among a number of governments have been highlighted as major threats to the advancement of press freedom in the West African region.

IFEX members sent a joint letter to President Museveni calling for an end to impunity in cases of police violence against the media, after a violent crackdown on a demonstration in May over media closures.

Oliver Poko Amah, a former senior officer of the Togolese Gendaremie, has been detained and charged with “inciting the military to revolt”. He was charged after allegedly stating on the radio that the Togolese Armed Forces should play the role of an arbiter.