21:49 ET<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\nNine newspapers in Ivory Coast have closed down in protest over what they say is harassment by supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo. <\/p>\n
The papers – which are either independent or back Mr Gbagbo’s rival, Alassane Ouattara – said their staff had suffered more than two months of physical threats. <\/p>\n
Mr Gbagbo refuses to give up the presidency after November’s elections.<\/p>\n
Mr Ouattara is widely seen as the winner of the poll.<\/p>\n
Recent clashes between Mr Gbagbo’s and Mr Ouattara’s supporters have prompted the UN to warn the country is at risk of relapsing into civil war.<\/p>\n
An armed rebellion in 2002 split the world’s largest cocoa producer between the north, held by the New Forces, and the government-controlled south.<\/p>\n
‘Impossible situation’<\/span><\/p>\nThe owners of the nine newspapers – which include leading titles Le Nouveau Reveil, Le Patriote and Nord-Sud – said they were suspending publication “until further notice”.<\/p>\n
“Our journalists are constantly at risk of death,” the newspapers joint spokesman Dembele Al Seni was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.<\/p>\n
The papers also said they were being regularly fined by Ivory Coast’s media regulatory body, which remains loyal to Mr Gbagbo.<\/p>\n
Mr Gbagbo has not publicly commented on the allegations.<\/p>\n
Separately, the international media rights organisation Reporters Without Borders said that its “concern for press freedom in Ivory Coast is mounting by the day”. <\/p>\n
“We offer our support to the privately-owned newspapers that are being hounded and threatened and have decided to denounce a situation that has become impossible for the press,” it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The organisation also condemned a recent lynching of a journalist employed by a pro-Gbagbo newspaper in Abidjan, where many supporters of Mr Ouattara live. <\/p>\n
It also said the main transmission centre of RTI, the state-owned broadcaster controlled by the Gbagbo camp, had been recently attacked by Ouattara supporters in Abidjan. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
The rest is here:
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