Ivory Coast's Gbagbo Is Muzzling Press, Media Group Says
Gbagbo's government fired on Feb. 4 the president and the board of governors of the media regulator, known by its French acronym CNP, and appointed journalists loyal to him, the Paris- based press-monitoring group said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
"We fear the CNP will cease to perform its regulatory function and will henceforth be used to punish opposition journalists and media harshly, " said Jean-Francois Julliard, secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders, in the statement. The move "is liable to set Cote d'Ivoire back 20 years in terms of respect for media freedom," the group said.
On Feb. 9, the National Broadcasting Council withdrew the permit of ONUCI FM, the radio station controled by the United Nations mission in the West African nation. The decision to take the station off the air followed several calls by Gbagbo for the peacekeeping mission to leave the West African country, the council said.
The radio station has not been officially notified of the ban and is still broadcasting, said Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the Abidjan-based mission, in an e-mailed statement yesterday. "We are implementing our mandate, we are doing our job, we are broadcasting," he said.
Gbagbo accuses UN peacekeepers in the country of supporting his rival, Alassane Ouattara, who is the internationally recognized winner of a Nov. 28 election. Gbagbo refuses to cede power, alleging voting fraud in part of the country's north.
To contact the reporter on this story: Olivier Monnier in Abidjan via Accra at ebowers1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.
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