Djibouti

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled that Radio France Internationale's (RFI) FM broadcasts in Djibouti have been cut since January 14. According to RFI and French media reports, Djiboutian authorities silenced the broadcaster because of its report on an ongoing French legal inquiry into the 1995 death in Djibouti of Bernard Borrel, a French judge. RFI reported on January 12 that a French court had summoned the head of the Djiboutian secret services, Hassan Saïd, as a witness in the inquiry. An earlier French inquiry conducted in Djibouti had concluded that Borrel committed suicide.

JANUARY 14, 2005
Posted: February 16, 2005

Radio France Internationale
CENSORED

Officials cut radio France Internationale's (RFI) FM broadcasts in the country.

According to RFI and French media reports, Djiboutian authorities silenced the broadcaster because of its report on an ongoing French legal inquiry into the 1995 death in Djibouti of Bernard Borrel, a French judge. RFI reported on January 12 that a French court had summoned the head of the Djiboutian secret services, Hassan Saïd, as a witness in the inquiry. An earlier French inquiry conducted in Djibouti had concluded that Borrel committed suicide.

(NO COUNTRY SUMMARY)

January 15

Daher Ahmed Farah, Le Renouveau
IMPRISONED
Le Renouveau
CENSORED

Police detained Farah, editor of the opposition weekly Le Renouveau, at his home in Djibouti. He was taken to the Public Prosecutor's Office, charged with defamation and distributing false news, and then released.

AS SPORADIC GUN BATTLES CONTINUED BETWEEN GOVERNMENT FORCES AND REBELS of the United Revolutionary Front (FRUD), state broadcast and print outlets tailored their coverage to the propaganda needs of President Ismael Omar Guelleh's government. The opposition press, led by the weekly papers La Republique, Le Temps, and Le Renouveau, was little more objective.

The civil strife is rooted in tensions between the majority Issa ethnic group, which dominates the government, and the minority Afar group, which dominates the FRUD. The government refuses to release casualty figures and continues to downplay the gravity of the rebellion. Journalists working for state media practice self-censorship in order to avoid accusations of supporting the rebels, and authorities are quick to retaliate against independent and opposition media that try to cover the conflict.