Press freedom deteriorating, CPJ says

The US-based Committee to protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday expressed "deep concern" at the deteriorating state of press freedom in Gabon and called on the government to immediately and unconditionally lift a ban on three publications. In a letter to Gabonese President Omar Bongo, the journalists' watchdog said that authorities in the West African country recently banned two private newspapers and renewed the suspension of a third which they believe were critical of the authorities. "CPJ believes that no publication should be censored for publishing critical views on matters of public concern," it said. The media watchdog said on the 17 September police seized the third edition of the satirical bi-monthly "Sub-Version" at the airport in the capital, Libreville. They detained four of the paper's staff and questioned them for several hours. The four, Kimote Memey, Abel Mimongo, Stanislas Boubanga and Chartrin Ondamba had gone to the airport to collect copies of the paper which is printed in Cameroon to reduce costs. On 19 September quoting journalists, CPJ said, the National Council on Communications (CNC) sent a letter to the newspaper's publications director ordering Sub-Version to cease publication. CNC's letter also accused the paper of carrying articles "attacking the dignity of the president, his family and the institutions of the Republic". According to journalists at the paper, the order followed an article that appeared in the paper's second edition on August 20 suggesting that first lady, Lucie Bongo, was meddling in politics. The same day, the CNC sent letters to two other publications: the bi-monthly newspaper "La Sagaie" and the private bi-monthly "Misamu". La Sagaie was banned for inciting tribal division and printing reports "attacking the freedom and dignity of the institutions of the Gabonese republic". Local journalists told CPJ that the charge was triggered by an article that had alleged that people from the southeastern Haut-Ogoue region dominated the country's government and army. Misamu which the council had suspended on 13 May because of an ownership dispute between the paper's editor and a senator, received a letter informing it that it had been suspended until Gabonese authorities ruled on the newspaper's ownership. However according to local journalists, the ownership issue was being used as excuse to keep the paper closed because it had been critical of the government. On 22 August, Communications Minister, Mehdi Teale, appeared on Gabonese state television and warned both La Sagaie and Sub-Version of "legal action" and "severe punishment", according to local journalists. The same day, the CNC sent a memo to the Interior Ministry urging the ministry to seize both newspapers and monitor their content, according to journalists who have read the letter, CPJ said. "CPJ reminds Your Excellency that, as a public figure, you and your administration are subject to scrutiny from the press," it said. "As an independent organization of journalists dedicated to defending our colleagues worldwide, CPJ urges Your Excellency to lift the bans on Sub-Version, La Sagaie, and Misamu immediately and unconditionally." "Furthermore, CPJ reminds Your Excellency of the international consensus that journalists should be allowed to regulate themselves without state intervention." Gabon, a former French colony, has been led by Bongo since he seized government in a coup in 1967. An oil-rich country of just 1.2 million people, Gabon's oil and timber wealth give the sparsely populated country a per capita income of more than US $4,000, one of the highest in Africa. Bongo, 68, was last re-elected in 1998 with 66 percent of the vote and his current seven-year mandate expires in 2005. In July, the parliament approved constitutional amendments to allow Bongo to seek re-election indefinitely. The abolition of the two-term limit for the head of state was opposed by several small opposition parties, which dubbed the move a "constitutional coup" aimed at keeping Bongo in power indefinitely.