Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Press under attack in Burundi

.. | 26.07.2005 15:20 | Repression | Social Struggles | World

The Committee to Protect Journalists has spoken out against the Burundian authorities' continued harassment of Radio Publique Africain, one of the few independent radio stations in the country.

There's also a petition against the closure here:

 http://www.obsap.org/afrique/glp/burundi/petitions/rpa/petition_
RPA.html

From:  http://www.cpj.org/news/2005/Burundi25july05na.html

Radio Publique Africaine remained off the air today after police in Burundi closed the independent broadcaster's offices on Friday night, briefly detaining eight journalists and continuing a standoff over the station's news coverage.

RPA Deputy Director Jean-Marie Hicuburundi told CPJ that he and seven colleagues were taken to a police station and held for four hours without explanation before being released without charge. The detentions came as police broke into the station compound, padlocked its studios, and cut off its transmitter, despite an earlier agreement between authorities and RPA to end the dispute, CPJ sources said.

The Association of Burundian Journalists (ABJ), the Association of Radio Broadcasters, and the Burundian Press Observatory, which have been mediating the dispute, continued their efforts over the weekend. After meeting with President Domitien Ndayizeye on Saturday, they expect that RPA could be allowed to reopen in the coming days, mediator Innocent Muhozi, who is vice president of the Burundian Press Observatory, told CPJ. The state radio station, RTNB, quoted Ndayizeye as saying that he had decided to close RPA to "safeguard the integrity of state institutions."

The National Communications Council—known by its French acronym CNC—ordered RPA closed indefinitely on July 15, alleging that its recent election coverage was biased and that it had insulted the council. RPA director Alexis Sinduhije, a 2004 recipient of the Committee to Protect Journalists' International Press Freedom Award, disputed the council's allegations and kept the station on the air in defiance of the order.

On July 19, RPA agreed to close for 48 hours as a result of a compromise mediated by the three journalism organizations. Mediators said that the CNC had agreed to lift the ban at the end of the 48 hours, but it failed to take the necessary administrative steps. RPA resumed broadcasting on July 21 and police moved in the next day.

"CPJ calls on President Ndayizeye to ensure that RPA is allowed to resume broadcasting immediately and unconditionally," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said.

..
- Homepage: http://www.obsap.org/afrique/glp/burundi/petitions/rpa/petition_RPA.html

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech