Chad

December 7, 2006

His Excellency Idriss Deby Itno
President of the Republic of Chad
B.P. 74 N'Djamena, Tchadc/o The Embassy of Chad to the United States
2002 R Street, NW
Washington DC 20009

Via facsimile: (202) 265-1937

Your Excellency,

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by your government's censorship of private newspapers and radio stations under rules imposed amid ethnic clashes in November.

October 27, 2006
Posted: December 8, 2006

Evariste Ngaralbaye, Notre Temps
IMPRISONED

Ngaralbaye, a journalist for the private weekly Notre Temps, was arrested when he answered a police summons in the capital N’djamena. He told CPJ that he was held incommunicado in a cell 12 feet by 9 feet (four by three meters) with 19 other prisoners and pressed to reveal his sources for an October 23 editorial critical of the government’s conduct of its war against rebels in eastern Chad.

New York, May 19, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the release today of radio journalist Tchanguis Vatankah after three weeks of arbitrary detention. Vatankah, who went on hunger strike in early May, told CPJ by telephone from the capital, N’Djamena, that he was “very happy” to be back home with his wife, and that he was recuperating.

Vatankah is an Iranian who has lived in Chad for decades but does not have Chadian citizenship. He said authorities lifted an expulsion threat against him after he pledged to keep out of politics, and to step down as head of the Chadian Union of Private Radios. He was arrested April 28 after he signed a Union press release calling for the postponement of May 3 presidential elections to allow more room for political dialogue. Authorities claimed that he had violated his obligations as a refugee by meddling in Chadian politics. Incumbent President Idriss Déby was declared the winner of the presidential polls, which were boycotted by his main opponents.

New York, May 1, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed at the arrest on Friday of Tchanguis Vatankah, founder of an independent radio station and president of the Chadian Union of Private Radios. Police took Vatankah from his home in the capital, N’Djamena, but did not show any arrest warrant, according to Evariste Toldé, president of the Union of Chadian Journalists. Local press freedom and human rights activists have not been able to establish his whereabouts.

Update: April 17, 2006
Original Alert: April 12, 2006

Eliakim Vanambyl, FM Liberté
ABDUCTED

Rebel fighters in central Chad released Vanambyl, editor at the N’Djamena-based radio station FM Liberté, near the town of Mongo, where he was captured. Journalists in the capital told CPJ that the reasons behind Vanambyl’s abduction remained unclear.

April 15, 2006
Posted: April 17, 2006

René Dillah Yombirim, BBC and Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne (RNT)
ATTACKED

Security forces detained Yombirim, a correspondent for the BBC and state-owned radio, while he was interviewing residents in the capital, N’Djamena, following an attempt by rebels to overthrow the government of President Idriss Déby. Local journalists told CPJ that Yombirim was taken to a military camp, where he was detained for two hours and badly beaten before being released without charge. The journalist suffered several injuries in the attack, including three broken teeth, local journalists said.

New York, April 12, 2006—Rebel fighters abducted a journalist on Tuesday when they seized the central Chadian town of Mongo, the head of the Union of Chadian Journalists, Evariste Toldé, told the Committee to Protect Journalists today. Eliakim Vanambyl, editor at the N’Djamena-based radio station FM Liberté, had traveled to Mongo to report on a conference organized by local human rights organizations, Toldé said. Vanambyl’s whereabouts are unknown.

CHAD

President Idriss Déby's government jailed several journalists and closed a community radio station in an unprecedented assault on the media. Equally unprecedented was the response of journalists, who organized protests, a one-week newspaper strike, and a blackout of all radio news bulletins. The protests, together with international pressure, kept the spotlight on the imprisoned journalists, most of whom were freed in September, when an appeals court ruled in their favor.