(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has sharply criticised the abrupt closing of independent radio station FM Liberté by presidential guards on 12 February 2007. Guards arrested two station employees and looted the broadcasting centre. At approximately 11:40 a.m. (local time) on 12 February, while the morning show “Matinée plurielle” was on the air, a presidential guard unit […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has sharply criticised the abrupt closing of independent radio station FM Liberté by presidential guards on 12 February 2007. Guards arrested two station employees and looted the broadcasting centre.
At approximately 11:40 a.m. (local time) on 12 February, while the morning show “Matinée plurielle” was on the air, a presidential guard unit stormed the FM Liberté building in the Kaloum neighbourhood of the capital, Conarky. The soldiers roughed up several employees and destroyed various piece of equipment, cutting off the broadcast. Mohamed Tondon Camara, a journalist and radio host at the station, and David Camara, a technician, were arrested. The two are thought to be detained at the head office for urban safety. Vital production equipment was also taken from the station.
No explanation has been given for the raid. According to staff at the station, the soldiers accused the moderate FM Liberté of having “insulted the president”. The raid came as the station was broadcasting a series of “man-on-the-street” interviews, during which many of those responding criticised President Lansana Conté.
At least six protesters were killed by police forces on 12 February in the Conarky suburbs, in a renewed wave of protests that have ground the nation to a halt. Following an 18-day general strike earlier this year that ended on 27 January, leaving 59 people dead, Conté agreed to cede partial authority to a prime minister capable of restoring order. On 10 February, union organizers, who have been leading the protests for more than a year, reacted to the appointment of close presidential ally Eugène Camara to the post, calling it “a new provocation”. They have demanded his immediate resignation and called for a resumption of the general strike.
