Guinea: Journalists harassed following elections

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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ALERT - GUINEA

9 January 2004

Journalists harassed following elections

SOURCE: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Windhoek

**MISA and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), as a joint activity,
will henceforth issue alerts, statements and appeals to highlight media
freedom and wider human rights violations in West Africa. See www.misa.org
and www.mediafoundationwa.org for more information**

(MISA/IFEX) - The following is a joint MISA-MFWA alert:

Following the controversial 31 December 2003 elections in Guinea, several
independent journalists in the country have been harassed and intimidated
for stories and comments referring to the elections.

According to MFWA sources in Guinea, Sanou Kerfalla Cissé and Talibé Diallo,
managing editor and deputy editor-in-chief, respectively, of "Le diplomate"
weekly newspaper, as well as Jean Marie Morgan, a freelance journalist, were
summoned by the police special branch (DST), and interrogated for several
hours on 26 December, and again on 30 December. The journalists were
specifically questioned about two articles entitled, "Matam - The dice are
loaded" and "Kaloum - Elections devalued", which were published in the 23
December edition of "Le Diplomate".

The stories reported on alleged irregularities surrounding the elections and
were accompanied by pictorial illustrations of young children stuffing
ballot boxes and women who had voted more than once. After several hours of
interrogation, Commissioner Mamadou Camara, the DST's chief of operations,
ordered the journalists to return to their work places and wait for the DST
to decide their fate.

On 27 and 29 December, the managing editor of the bi-monthly "Le Populaire"
was summoned by the DST and harassed about an article entitled, "Wade
preparing Conte's exile", published in the 25 December edition of the
newspaper. The article alleged that Senegal's President, Abdoulaye Wade, had
offered his Guinean counterpart, President Lasana Conte, exile in Dakar.

The police officers who interrogated Diallo accused him of jeopardizing the
country's internal security.

The summoning of journalists by the police is a flagrant violation of the
Guinean Constitution, which stipulates that the National Communications
Council is the only media regulatory body mandated to summon and question
media practitioners who may be in breach of the journalists' professional
code of ethics.

MFWA and MISA appeal to President Conte's government to demonstrate greater
respect for the rule of law and refrain from intimidating and arbitrarily
and illegally arresting journalists in the country.

For further information, contact Zoe Titus, Program Coordinator, Media
Freedom Monitoring, MISA, Street Address: 21 Johann Albrecht Street, Mailing
Address; Private Bag 13386 Windhoek, Namibia, tel: +264 61 232 975, fax:
+264 61 248 016, e-mail: research@misa.org, Internet: http://www.misa.org,
or Kwame Karikari, Executive Director, Media Foundation for West Africa, P.
O. Box LG 730, Legon, Ghana, tel: +233 21 24 24 70, fax: +233 21 22 10 84,
e-mail: mfwa@africaonline.com.gh, Internet: http://www.mediafoundationwa.org

The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of MISA.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit MISA.
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