Media watchdogs condemn attack on newspapers

Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have condemned the looting of a media house that publishes three newspapers considered close to Cote d'Ivoire's opposition Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR). The two watchdogs and local media reported that about 50 persons in civilian clothing, some of them armed, broke into the offices of the Mayama media group on Wednesday and ransacked them. CPJ said the mob smashed computers and other equipment and damaged printing presses. RSF urged Communication Minister Sery Bailly to do everything possible to prevent a recurrence of the attack so that all journalists in Cote d'Ivoire may work in safety. The Mayama group publishes a weekly, Abidjan Magazine, and two dailies, Tassouman and Le Patriote. RSF said journalists at Le Patriote had received threats, and one was beaten up, after a failed coup attempt on 19 September which some sectors have blamed on the RDR. The Mayama group suspended the publications of the newspapers at the onset of the current crisis. While Abidjan Magazine and Tassouman remain off the shelves, Le Patriote reappeared on the newsstands on 10 October. Meanwhile, the RDR has reported the arrest of some of its members. Its leader, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, sought refuge in the French Embassy after the aborted coup.