| Censure politique et atteinte � la libert� d'expression |
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Government inhibits press development in Gabon, opposition leader charges By W. Joseph Campbell ARLINGTON, Va. -- Gabon's leading opposition politician and prospective presidential candidate in elections this year said yesterday the government had resorted to a variety of measures -- subtle and otherwise -- to inhibit press pluralism in the western African state. Paul Mba Abessole, the mayor of Libreville, the Gabonese capital, said in a meeting at the World Center that an underdeveloped news media was a major impediment to multiparty democracy in Gabon. The equator straddling country, rich in oil, has about 1.2 million people. Gabon has been ruled since 1967 by Omar Bongo, who in 1993 defeated Abessole in a disputed presidential election. Abessole, a Roman Catholic priest who heads the National Recovery Movement-Lumberjacks party, was elected mayor of Libreville in 1996. He did not answer questions about whether he would run for president again in elections scheduled for late this year. Abessole cited the following as government tactics to thwart development of press pluralism in Gabon -- a litany not uncommon in other French-speaking countries in West and Central Africa:
Moreover, the government has cracked down periodically on non-official newspapers. Le B�cheron, the eight-page, tabloid-size newspaper of Abessole's party, was twice suspended on government orders last year, Reporters sans Fronti�res said in its 1998 report. Satirical newspapers also have been targets of periodic crackdowns in Gabon, as has the National Recovery Movement's local station, Radio Soleil, which has been known to satirize Bongo. One satiric newspaper, La Griffe, was suspended by the government in 1995 for having "cleverly published ... attacks that have nothing to do with its mandate to inform, even less with educating or entertaining," Paris-based Reporters sans Fronti�res has said. Western governments, Abessole said, should work to make sure
that the 1998 elections in Gabon are conducted so that "the best man wins." The
European Union or the United Nations ought to have a significant role in helping organize
and overseeing the vote, he said. Abessole, 58, finished second to Bongo in the 1993
elections, which opponents contested as badly flawed. Opposition candidates sued to have
the results overturned; while the appeal was pending, Abessole declared himself president
and established a short-lived parallel government. The Constitutional Court rejected the
appeal. Copyright 1998. The Freedom Forum ACTION ALERTOriginator: Reporters sans frontieres (RSF)Date: 1998/02/27 Private radio station suspended(RSF/IFEX) - According to RSF, on 20 February 1998, Radio Soleil, a private radio station, was forbidden from transmitting. The decision, by the National Communication Council, followed an editorial broadcast by Radio Soleil in which President Omar Bongo was satirized. The radio station has close ties to the National Union of Timberworkers opposition party. Without commenting on the merits of the case, RSF is shocked that the suspension affects the entirety of Radio Soleil's programming. Recommended ActionSend appeals to authorities: recalling that Gabon ratified the African Charter of Human Rights, in which article 9 guarantees freedom of expression and information appealing to them to use their authority so that all other Radio Soleil programming may continue to broadcast Reporters Sans Fronti�res: rapport 1998: Gabon Le 14 mai 1997, le billet d'humeur du quotidien gouvernemental L'Union, sign� du pseudonyme Makaya, est interdit &laqno; jusqu'� nouvel ordre � par d�cret pr�sidentiel. Sur le ton de la conversation et de la fausse na�vet�, ce billet critique parfois violemment les travers de la soci�t� gabonaise, les erreurs de ses hommes politiques et la politique des grandes puissances, notamment la France. A propos de la crise za�roise, le billet du 13 mai �voque &laqno; les �gouts de la politique franco-africaine �. Le 20 mai, apr�s avoir re�u le soutien de l'hebdomadaire satirique ind�pendant La Griffe, qui lance une p�tition pour &laqno; d�fendre la libert� d'expression et la d�mocratie �, ainsi que de plusieurs partis d'opposition, L'Union est � nouveau autoris� � publier cette rubrique. Le 20 mai, les studios de la radio ind�pendante Radio Commerciale, � Libreville, sont saccag�s par plusieurs hommes en armes non identifi�s. L'�metteur est compl�tement d�truit. Au 31 d�cembre, la radio n'avait pas repris ses �missions. Le 26 juin, l'hebdomadaire Le B�cheron, organe du Rassemblement national des B�cherons (RNB), principal parti d'opposition, est suspendu pour un mois suite � la parution le 19 juin d'un article tr�s violent � l'�gard du pr�sident Omar Bongo, intitul� &laqno; Faisons la peau � Omar �. Le 13 octobre, Le B�cheron est � nouveau suspendu pour trois mois. Un article de son �dition du 9 octobre accuse le pouvoir d'avoir enterr� un f�tiche &laqno; de haute sorcellerie � dans une clairi�re proche de l'a�roport d'Oyem, capitale de la province du Woleu-Ntem, fief du RNB. La m�me �dition reproduit partiellement l'article intitul� &laqno; Faisons la peau � Omar �. Le 4 d�cembre, le Conseil national de la communication (CNC), l'organe �tatique charg� de la d�ontologie journalistique, menace de retirer l'agr�ment de la radio priv�e Radio Soleil alors que deux �missions politiques de cette radio sont d�j� suspendues pendant un mois. Cette radio est accus�e de &laqno; d�rive tribaliste et tentative de trouble � l'ordre public � par le CNC, pour avoir diffus� le 3 d�cembre une chronique sur &laqno; le caract�re flou � de l'accession au pouvoir du pr�sident Omar Bongo. Index Afrique Newspapers "Le Bucheron" and "La Griffe" bannedOriginator: Reporters sans frontieres (RSF)Date: 1995/04/28 In a 20 April 1995 letter, the Minister of the Interior of Gabon ordered the head of the national printing press to cease printing the newspapers "Le Bucheron" and "La Griffe". The Minister justified his decision by explaining that "`Le Bucheron' has reprinted information from newspapers we have explicitly banned from distribution in our territory as a way of going around this order." He added, "`La Griffe'...cleverly published, without proof and with willful intent, attacks that have nothing to do with its mandate to inform, even less with educating or entertaining." The ban follows a series of articles and caricatures on the Smalto scandal (the Italian tailor who is currently on trial in France for allegedly setting up a prostitution ring whose clients are said to include President Bongo. The Minister of the Interior affirms that "due to the severity of the situation, and the discredit which the newspapers have brought upon the public image of the country," he found himself obliged to put a protective ban on "the publication and circulation of the newpapers `Le Bucheron' and `La Griffe'". Recommended ActionSend appeals to the authorities below: reminding them that such a banning order does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Minister of the Interior, but rather under the National Council of Communications, as was the case recently in the 16 March 1995 decision on the banning under similar circumstances of "L'Effort" the order being illegal, thereby asking that all legal measures be taken to respect the law and see that it is followed asking for the immediate lifting of the ban of "Le Bucheron" and "La Griffe" |