(WAN/IFEX) – In a 27 May 2003 letter to Communications Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo, WAN and the World Editors Forum expressed serious concern at the government’s banning of the launch of the Freedom FM radio station and the threats made against three journalists. According to reports, on 23 May a state official came to the […]
(WAN/IFEX) – In a 27 May 2003 letter to Communications Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo, WAN and the World Editors Forum expressed serious concern at the government’s banning of the launch of the Freedom FM radio station and the threats made against three journalists.
According to reports, on 23 May a state official came to the offices of the private radio station Freedom FM, which was due to begin broadcasting at 5:00 a.m. (local time) on 24 May, with a photocopy of a document issued by the Information Ministry purporting to stop the launch of the station for “illegally exercising the profession” of broadcasting. Later that afternoon, police raided the studio in Douala, confiscating equipment and enforcing the ban. Authorities reportedly claimed that certain formalities had not been observed; a fact denied by the station’s owner, Pius Njawe.
WAN and the WEF are concerned that the government’s claims may simply have been a pretext to prevent the launch of Freedom FM and that the ban is part of a crackdown against critical media in the run-up to next year’s presidential elections. In April, three journalists from the only independent daily, “Mutations”, were arrested (see IFEX alerts of 24, 18 and 16 April 2003). In March, the private radio station Magic FM was closed for criticising the regime and two private television stations, RTA and Canal 2, were suspended in February (see IFEX alerts of 24 April, 19 and 17 March 2003).
The organisations are also concerned that Njawe, who is also director of “Le Messager”, and two of his colleagues, chief editor Jean-Melvin Akam and journalist René Dassié, have been threatened by senior police officers who suspect them of having obtained documents which may embarrass the police force.
