Local journalists Prevented from Covering Ouattara visit to the Presidential Palace

Media Foundation for West Africa (Accra)

4 May 2011

press release

State Protocol officials in Cote d’Ivoire on April 28, 2011 prevented a group of local journalists from covering President Alassane Ouattara’s visit to the country’s Presidential Palace at Plateau (Central Abidjan), the commercial capital of the country.

The visit was the first by Ouattara since his forces in a raid on April 11, removed Laurent Gbagbo, the former President and defeated candidate of the run-off election, who had refused to leave power.

The Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA) correspondent reported that only foreign journalists were allowed to cover the president’s inspection of the palace with the explanation that the place was less spacious for a large number of journalists.

The correspondent said the journalists mainly from pro-Ouattara and independent media were ordered to wait outside the palace for a later briefing.

In a related development, a tour to assess the state of media which were attacked during the political conflict by Ivorian Publishers Group’s (GEPCI) on April 27 were marred by an armed soldier of the Forces Republicaines de Cote d’Ivoire (FRCI), who threatened the delegation led by Denis Kah Zion, President of GEPCI.

The correspondent said the threat was issued at the premises of Notre Voie’, a pro-Gbagbo newspaper. This was after the delegation had successfully visited the state-owned Fraternité Matin newspaper and the Edipresse, the newspapers distribution company

The angry soldier said :“(Are) you there, have I not told you not to come here any more? Henceforth, if you want to come here, you must get permission. You must get a paper stamped at the Golf Hotel (seat of President Ouattara)”.

He ordered the photographers to hand over their cameras to him but Zion resisted.

Meanwhile, Hamed Bakayoko, the acting Minister of Communication has appealed to pro-Gbagbo media which has been out of circulation since April 17 for security concerns to resume publication.

Bakayoko, who was addressing journalists and media executives as part of the May 3rd World Press Freedom Day Celebration in Cocody, a suburb of Abidjan assured them of protection and that journalists in the country must adhere to the professional ethics of the media.

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