Dakar
20 August 2008
After recent attacks on newspaper offices in Senegal and ongoing detentions of journalists in Gambia, international attention is yet again being focused on the state of journalism in West Africa. Journalists in Gambia describe their daily fear of revenge and warn of a loss of media freedom in the region. Ricci Shryock has more from our regional bureau in Dakar.
Earlier this month, United States Senator Richard Durbin addressed the U.S. Congress about the case of another Gambian journalist. Durbin called for the Gambian government to release Chief Ebrima Manneh.
Manneh has been held incommunicado since July 2006.
Manneh was arrested at his office after he tried to re-publish a BBC article that questioned why the African Union was holding its summit in Gambia. In the report, the BBC pointed out the summit location went against the African Union's pledge to suspend governments that seize power.
The Gambian government denies they have Manneh in custody.
Vincent adds that because of this environment, his organization tracks many journalists who flee Gambia.
"Every year we count dozens of arrests and also dozens of Gambian journalists fleeing the country and living in exile," said Vincent.
Many Gambian journalists and other Gambians, who are also fleeing persecution but have fewer means, end up in Senegal.
Senegal has long been considered to be better for journalists in the region, says Mohamed Keita, a New York-based African research associate for The Committee to Protect Journalists.
But Keita warns the country is at risk of losing that status, due to recent tensions between the media and ruling government party.
This week, he says, there were two attacks on newspaper offices in Dakar.
"Independent newspapers were attacked by unidentified men, and the journalists reported seeing a vehicle with government license plates, so we are particularly disturbed and alarmed by these reports, which would suggest that these were government-sponsored attacks, raids, against newsrooms," said Keita. "And essentially the newspapers targeted are known for their critical coverage of the government."
Three days before the attacks, Senegal's Air Transport Minister, Farba Senghor, threatened retaliation against four Senegalese newspapers. Although two of those newspapers were the same ones attacked, Senghor has denied any involvement in the raids.
According to Keita, the fact that these acts often go unpunished means media outlets are taking matters into their own hands.
"If the government itself is not interested in the protection of journalists," said Keita. "If top officials are out, threatening journalists, then it is left for journalists to really guarantee their own protection, and that's exactly what the editors of these newspapers and others have told us, that they will be hiring security to guarantee their own protection."
Keita adds the situation in Senegal is getting worse for journalists.
"Absolutely by all accounts it seems that the gloves are coming off," he said.
There are problems in many other countries of the region, and many journalists in jail, including in Niger, where Radio France International reporter Moussa Kaka has spent most of the year behind bars, for what the government says is an accusation of treason with rebels, but he says was simply contacting them for his reporting.