Niger refuses visa to Reporters Without Borders secretary-general

Contact details Bureau Afrique / Africa desk Reporters sans frontières / Reporters Without Borders CS 90247 - 75083 Paris Cedex 02 Tel : (33) 1 44 83 84 76 Fax : (33) 1 45 23 11 51
Principal country concerned : Column : Media
Release/publication date : March 2008
Published on : 04/03/2008
http://www.rsf.org
Contact by email

The government of Niger has refused to provide Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard with a visa for a trip he was to have made to Niamey to participate from there in a special day of solidarity with the organisation's imprisoned correspondent, Moussa Kaka, which Radio France Internationale is organising on 10 March.

After submitting a visa application to Niger's embassy in Paris on 19 February, Ménard was notified seven days later that his request had been denied. Communication minister and government spokesman Mohammed Ben Omar subsequently confirmed the refusal to him by telephone.

"We deplore this discriminatory treatment, which is not in Niger's interests," Reporters Without Borders said. "We hope the government will not persist in this attitude, which will just perpetuate the status quo and hurt Niger's image even more."

Ménard made two recent trips to Niamey without any problem, in November and January, to visit Kaka in Niamey prison and to seek the release of two French journalists employed by the Franco-German TV station ARTE, Thomas Dandois and Pierre Creisson. Arrested in December after visiting northern Niger, where the Tuareg rebels of the Niger People's Movement for Justice (MNJ) are active, Dandois and Creisson were freed on 18 January.

The Niamey correspondent of both Reporters Without Borders and RFI, Kaka was arrested on 20 September and charged with "complicity in a conspiracy against the authority of the state" because his phone calls with an MNJ leader allegedly demonstrated that he "conniving" with the rebels. He is facing a possible life sentence.

Organizations

1 files

Partners

  • Arterial network
  • Media, Sports and Entertainment Group (MSE)
  • Gens de la Caraïbe
  • Groupe 30 Afrique
  • Alliance Française VANUATU
  • PACIFIC ARTS ALLIANCE
  • FURTHER ARTS
  • Zimbabwe : Culture Fund Of Zimbabwe Trust
  • RDC : Groupe TACCEMS
  • Rwanda : Positive Production
  • Togo : Kadam Kadam
  • Niger : ONG Culture Art Humanité
  • Collectif 2004 Images
  • Africultures Burkina-Faso
  • Bénincultures / Editions Plurielles
  • Africiné
  • Afrilivres

With the support of