Gabonese communication council suspends two newspapers

In a statement that appeared on 8 October in the pro-government daily L'Union, the regulatory body suspended La Nation for one month based on a complaint by Blandine Marundu ma Mihindou, Gabon's minister of culture and the arts. In issue number 98, published in August, La Nation published an article, entitled "Does Blandine Marundi deserve to be a minister?", which denounced the minister's "resistance to change and lack of experience".

Blaise Mengue-Mena, publisher of La Nation told the organisation Journaliste En Danger (JED) by telephone that his newspaper was summoned to appear before the CNC in late September, but the evidence presented was considered insufficient by the council.

In the same statement, the CNC banned the publication and distribution in Gabon of the newspaper Le Gri-Gri International until its status is "regularised"; the reason reportedly being that the newspaper's last issue was printed and distributed in Gabon even though the newspaper had allegedly never established itself as a Gabonese press outlet.

Meanwhile, the printing firm VDP and the distributor Sogapresse were ordered to no longer offer their services to Le Gri-Gri International until the newspaper had regularised its situation with the Gabonese authorities.

On 25 September, issue number 78 of the Gabonese edition of Le Gri-Gri International, which was to appear on 27 September, was censured "because of its content" by VDP printers, thereby preventing the distribution of this issue in Gabon.

The newspaper's front page referred to the announcement, a few days earlier, by President Omar Bongo (nicknamed "Mullah Omar") of the imminent development of the iron mines in Belinga, located in the north-eastern province of Ougooué-Ivindo, describing it as a "Gabonese deception". The newspaper also expressed concern about pollution and ecosystem destruction at the local and national level as a result of this development.

Published courtesy of JED