FEBRUARY 8, 2005
Posted: February 11, 2005

Radio France Internationale
CENSORED

FM broadcasts of Radio France Internationale (RFI) were cut at around noon, according to RFI and international news reports.

Communications Minister Pittang Tchalla told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that RFI had gone off air because of a "technical fault." But AFP quoted a source close to the government as saying that "it was a government decision, because of the tone adopted by this radio station." At a press conference the previous day, Tchalla accused "certain international media" of "calling for revolution and destabilization." He singled out RFI, saying that it was trying to "set Togo alight," AFP reported.

This came after the death the previous weekend of President Gnassingbé Eyadema, who had ruled the country for 38 years, and the army's swift move to install one of his sons, Faure Gnassingbé, as president in defiance of the constitution. Parliament then amended the constitution to legitimize the move, but there has been a chorus of regional and international protest.

Local journalists say RFI had aired a number of interviews critical of the situation, including an interview with exiled opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio.

RFI's FM transmissions resumed on February 10, on the orders of Faure Gnassingbé, according to local sources. However, a France-based RFI reporter remained in neighboring Benin after being denied a visa to enter Togo.

Authorities also cracked down on local private radio stations that aired critical opinions, shuttering one station and issuing threats to four others.


FEBRUARY 10, 2005
Updated: February 10, 2005

Radio Lumière
CENSORED

Police shuttered Radio Lumière in Aného, about 31 miles (50 kilometers) east of the capital, Lomé, seizing equipment and driving the station's director into hiding, according to local sources. They said police accused the station of inciting violence after it aired critical debates.

The crackdown came after the death of Gnassingbé Eyadema, who had ruled the country for 38 years, and the army's swift move to install one of his sons, Faure Gnassingbé, as president in defiance of the constitution. Parliament has since amended the constitution to legitimize the move, but there has been a chorus of regional and international protest.

Local sources say private radio stations have been broadcasting critical debates and interviews on the situation, drawing a number of threats from the ruling authorities. Directors and news editors of private stations were summoned today to a meeting at the media regulatory body, known by its French acronym HAAC, during which a senior official from the Communications Ministry threatened that the stations' licenses would not be renewed if the outlets did not "work properly," according to one of the station directors. An army spokesman also at the meeting told the radio stations that they must immediately stop the critical debates.

CPJ sources said that four Lomé radio stations were targeted: Radio Kanal FM, Radio Nana FM, Radio Nostalgie, and Radio Maria.

Earlier in the week, officials cut FM transmissions of Radio France Internationale (RFI), which resumed this morning. However, a France-based RFI reporter remains in neighboring Benin after being denied a visa to enter Togo, according to local sources.

On February 24, the station was allowed to begin broadcasting again.

FEBRUARY 11, 2005
Updated: March 10, 2005

Nana FM
Kanal FM
Radio Nostalgie
TV7
Fréquence 1
CENSORED

Security forces accompanied by representatives of Togo's Telecommunication and Postal Services' regulatory agency went to the offices of private radio stations Nana FM, Kanal FM, and Radio Nostalgie, as well as to the private television station TV7 and Fréquence 1, a radio station with the same owner, and ordered them off the air. The broadcasters are all based in the capital, Lomé.

The regulatory agency claimed that the stations owed the equivalent of thousands of dollars in unpaid broadcasting fees. Journalists at Nana FM and Kanal FM told CPJ that the stations' phone lines were also cut.

Several hours after the stations had closed, a Lomé court ordered them suspended for one month at the request of the High Audiovisual and Communications Authority (HAAC), a government media regulatory body. According to local sources, the order accused the broadcasters of inciting "civil disobedience" and "racial hatred" on the air.

According to the Panafrican News Agency, riot police posted outside clashed with demonstrators who tried to prevent the stations' closure.

The closures came amid growing unrest in the capital following the death of Gnassingbé Eyadema, who had ruled the country for 38 years, and the army's swift move to install one of his sons, Faure Gnassingbé, as president in defiance of the constitution. Parliament later amended the constitution to legitimize the move, but there has been a chorus of regional and international protest.

Private radio stations in Togo have been broadcasting critical debates and interviews on the situation, drawing a number of threats from the ruling authorities. Directors and news editors of private stations were summoned on February 10 to a meeting at the HAAC, during which an army spokesman at the meeting told the radio stations that they must immediately stop the critical commentary.

On February 18, Fréquence 1 and TV 7 were allowed back on the air. Radio Nostalgie, Nana FM, and Kanal FM were back on air by February 24.

FEBRUARY 14, 2005
Updated: March 10, 2005

Radio Carré Jeunes
Télévision Zion
CENSORED

Togolese authorities shuttered privately owned Radio Carré Jeunes and religious broadcaster Télévision Zion, citing alleged unpaid administrative fees. Togo's Telecommunication and Postal Services' regulatory agency claimed that the stations, which are based in the capital, Lomé, owed the equivalent of thousands of dollars' in unpaid broadcasting fees.

The order came three days after security forces, accompanied by representatives of the regulatory agency, ordered shut several private broadcasters known for their critical political commentary, also citing alleged unpaid administrative fees. Later on February 11, a Lomé court ordered those stations' suspension for one month, accusing them of inciting "civil disobedience" and "racial hatred" on the air.

The closures come amid a backdrop of growing unrest in the capital following the death of Gnassingbé Eyadema, who had ruled the country for 38 years, and the army's swift move to install one of his sons, Faure Gnassingbé, as president in defiance of the constitution.

On February 18, Radio Carré Jeunes and Télévision Zion were allowed back on the air.

APRIL 15, 2005
Posted: May 3, 2005

All private radio, television journalists
CENSORED

The High Audiovisual and Communications Authority (known by its French acronym, HAAC) issued a directive saying private broadcasters may not "carry out any media coverage" of the presidential candidates ahead of the April 24 vote. The HAAC directive also states that "private radio and television stations are not authorized during the election campaign to organize special programs or on-air debates featuring candidates or their representatives."

Four local media organizations issued a statement in protest, calling the HAAC's decision unconstitutional.

On February 11, at least four private radio stations and one private television station were suspended at the request of the HAAC, after they aired critical debates and interviews on the political situation following Gnassingbé Eyadema's death. The stations were later allowed to resume broadcasting.

On March 30, the HAAC warned private radio station Nana FM to stop airing biweekly editorial commentary by veteran journalist and media activist Daniel Lawson-Drackey, the journalist told CPJ.


APRIL 20, 2005
Posted: May 3, 2005

Kanal FM
CENSORED

The High Audiovisual and Communications Authority (HAAC) suspended Kanal FM, an.independent radio station in the capital, Lomé, for one month because of an April 18 editorial titled "Autopsy of an Electoral Campaign." The editorial accused members of the ruling party of committing widespread human rights abuses; alleged that the HAAC had become a tool of the ruling party; and denounced the HAAC's campaign coverage ban, according to a source at the radio station.

The HAAC had banned independent broadcasters from covering the presidential campaign. The ban, issued on April 15, stated that private broadcasters may neither cover candidates' campaigns nor "organize special programs or on-air debates featuring candidates or their representatives."

According to a copy of the suspension order obtained by CPJ, the HAAC accused Kanal FM's editorial of being "tendentious, defamatory and insulting" and chastised the radio station for "not observing warnings" and lacking "professional journalistic ethics."

Modeste Messavussu Akué, Kanal FM's director, told CPJ he was not aware of the editorial until after it aired, and that he had apologized for the journalist's accusations on-air on Wednesday.


OCTOBER 9, 2005
Posted October 13, 2005

Dimas Dzikodo, Le Forum de la Semaine
ATTACKED

Dzikodo, publication director of the private weekly Le Forum de la Semaine, was brutally beaten in the capital, Lomé. His newspaper is strongly critical of Togolese authorities.

According to local sources, unidentified attackers knocked Dzikodo from his motorcycle and beat him, then sprayed an unidentified liquid from an aerosol can into his face and forced him to drink another liquid, which he managed to spit out. Dzikodo was taken to a hospital, where he spent several days recovering.

Dzikodo had been previously targeted for his journalistic work. In June 2003, while editor of the now defunct L'Evènement, he was arrested at an Internet café while scanning photographs of people allegedly mistreated by security forces during 2003 presidential elections. Dzikodo was jailed for more than two weeks along with two other journalists.