Robbers hit Ivory Coast media groups

Yamoussoukro - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged the government of Côte d'Ivoire to take urgent actions to put an end to newsroom robberies after four media companies were raided in a period of two months by armed groups who stole office equipment and documents.

The organisation has condemned these attacks, which it says are “creating an environment of fear and panic in the press" and it wants the government to take urgent action to put an end to the attacks.

The IFJ says the attacks seem to be aimed at destabilising the new peace process in the country.

In the last two months, four media groups, including three close to the ruling party and one close to the opposition, were attacked. In all of these attacks the modus operandi remained the same: the burglars strike early in the morning between 1 and 4 am, bind the guards and sometimes beat them and then steal office equipment, money and documents.

At 2 am on the morning of July 9, the media group La Refondation, publisher of the daily newspapers Notre Voie and Elite Actuelle, was the victim of a burglary.

Five days before, on July 5, the media group Nord-sud Communication, publisher of the daily newspaper Nord-Sud quotidian, was also attacked.

The week before that, on June 28, armed individuals ransacked the media group Cyclone, publisher of the daily newspaper Le Temps and of the weekly newspaper Prestige.

A wave of attacks

The first attack in the latest wave of attacks was on May 5 when the media group Le Matin d'Abidjan, publisher of the daily newspaper Le Matin d'Abidjan, was robbed.

Last year, in September 2006, the media group Les éditions Appo, publisher of the daily newspapers Le Sport and Dialogues and Heat weekly magazine, was burglarized. Those responsible for the attacks were never caught.

Media organisations and journalists in the Côte d'Ivoire have denounced the silence and lack of action by the government.

The IFJ is calling for the government to make catching those responsible for the robberies a top priority and claims that there is more to the burglaries than simply loss of property. It claims they are “creating a sense of unease in the journalism community and intimidating publishers and reporters alike”.

Source: IFEX