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New York, September 13, 2000 --- The Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ) is gravely disturbed by the continued brutal persecution of
journalists who criticize Côte d'Ivoire president Robert Gueï
and the activities of his military government. In a formal protest
letter sent today to President Gueï, CPJ executive director Ann
Cooper said, "We are particularly alarmed at the recent beating of
editor Joachim Beugré of the private daily Le Jour by
three soldiers under your command."
Beugré and his publisher, Diegou Bailly,
were summoned to the presidential palace in Abidjan on the afternoon
of September 8, according to CPJ sources in Côte d'Ivoire. President
Gueï personally interrogated the two journalists, pressing them
to reveal their sources for an article about his parentage that had
appeared in that day's edition of Le Jour.
Published under Beugré's byline, the article pointed out that
Gueï's surname is different from the father's surname that appears
on his birth certificate. Le Jour published a copy of the birth
certificate to support Beugré's argument.
Ban on Coverage of Army
Bailly was released without charge, according to local press reports
confirmed by CPJ sources, after Gueï explained to him that in
his tribe a son does not take his father's surname. The matter did
not end there, however. Acting on Gueï's orders, three soldiers
drove Beugré to his Abidjan home, which they searched without
warrant. The soldiers then took the journalist to an open field near
Abidjan International Airport, beat him savagely, and threatened even
harsher retribution if he continued to report "maliciously" about
Gue&iml; and the military junta. Beugré spent four days in
hospital recuperating from his injuries.
Later on Sept. 8, Information Minister Captain Henri-Cesar Sama summoned
all Abidjan-based publishers and editors-in-chief to his office and
ordered them to stop covering the activities of the Army and the ruling
National Public Salvation Committee (CNSP). The minister claimed that
negative media coverage had "weakened the CNSP," and added that "civilians
would be the first to suffer" if the junta was destabilized as a result
of bad press.
Meanwhile, National Union of Côte d'Ivoire Journalists president
Honoré Dé Yedagne, who interviewed Gueï shortly
after the attack on Beugré, quoted the president as saying
that as far as he was concerned, "human rights no longer existed in
Côte d'Ivoire," and that he was not responsible for the behavior
of his soldiers.
"CPJ condemns all such reckless statements by you and other high-ranking
junta officers, which have contributed to the degradation of press
freedom in Côte d'Ivoire since you seized power last December,"
Cooper said in the protest letter. "Moreover," she added, "you have
shown little interest in reversing this trend." On July 5, one day
after the banning of the popular independent station Radio Nostalgie,
Gueï publicly threatened to punish local journalists severely
for alleged "bias" and "distortion of facts" in their reporting.
We Hold Gueï Directly Responsible
Cooper also stated, "CPJ condemns in the strongest terms your interrogation
of journalists Diegou Bailly and Joachim Beugré, and we hold
you directly responsible for the abuse that Beugré suffered
from soldiers under your command. As an organization of journalists
devoted to defending press freedom around the world, we urge you to
cease using brute force to stifle legitimate criticism of your government."
In response to the growing repression, the Union of Cote d'Ivoire
Journalists (UNJCI) announced on September 11 that it would boycott
coverage of government and junta activities starting September 14.
Several local dailies expressed their outrage through front-page articles.
Notre Voie screamed "The Ivorian Press in Danger," in
its September 11 edition, while Le Jour denounced the increasing
number of press freedom violations as "barbaric."
END
