Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), has condemned the closure of Le Quotidien, Guinea´s only privately-owned daily, on 13 November 2004. (22-NOV-04)
The National Communication Council (Conseil national de la communication, CNC) announced the paper´s “indefinite suspension” following the publication of an article entitled, “The country is in bad shape . . . when will the uprising take place?” RSF also deplored the threatening phone calls that the newspaper´s editor, Siaka Kouyaté, has been receiving for the past week.
Unjustified closure
“The closure of ´Le Quotidien´ is clearly unjustified,” the organisation said. “Such a radical measure should always be a last resort, but it was taken without prior warning. In fact, the way this affair is developing suggests that an attempt is being made to terrorise Kouyaté and his staff and silence them for good. Having read Kouyaté´s article, we concluded that in no way does it violate Guinea´s laws or disturb the peace, calm and democracy,´ as the CNC has argued. ´Le Quotidien´ must be allowed to resume publishing immediately in order to safeguard the diversity of news and information in Guinea,” RSF added.
Called for a “national reawakening”
The column, which ran on the daily´s front page on 7 November, presented an analysis of Guinea´s social, political and economic situation. It spoke of the country´s difficulties and called for a “national acknowledgement” of the situation. “Everyone realises there is only one solution for such a situation – an uprising. And, quite logically, everyone seems to be waiting for the president to be the first to give the signal,” the paper said. The article defined the “uprising” as a “revolt against our bad practices, our bad reflexes and our bad choices,” and called for a “national reawakening,” while adding, “The people expect that the chief they have chosen should give the signal for violence, the positive violence that all great nations adopt when the historic moment demands it.”
Editor threatened
Kouyaté learned of his paper´s closure via a CNC statement that was aired on national radio and television stations. The CNC alleged that the article was “very harmful and tendentious” and “violated press ethics.” Guinea´s news media outlets would “not be allowed to turn into subtle and undeclared dispensaries of racism or hate,” the statement added. Kouyaté went to the CNC´s headquarters in an attempt to explain, but was turned away. He told RSF that he had since received “phone calls of a threatening tone that clearly betray a desire to intimidate.” The editor said some of the calls were anonymous, while others came from the counter-espionage services (Direction de la surveillance du territoire, DST).
