New York, U.S.A. — An Ivoirian government security detail assaulted a journalist covering the eviction of a senior official’s family on Friday, seizing his equipment and leaving him bleeding and bruised, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attack and calls on authorities to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.

A police officer, a military soldier, and agents in plainclothes attacked Anderson Diédri, a reporter for the private daily Le Nouveau Courrier, as he interviewed and photographed a woman and her five children as they were being evicted from their home in Abidjan, according to local journalists and news reports. The woman’s husband, Albert Toikeusse Mabri, the minister of planning and development, had sought the eviction after filing for divorce in June.

Mabri had sent the assailants to supervise the eviction, even though an appeals court had nullified an eviction order issued earlier by a lower court, news reports said.

Diédri said that he had identified himself as a journalist to his assailants, but the men continued to punch and kick him, leaving him with a bloody lip and bruises on his body, according to news reports. He said the men had also seized his camera and mobile phone, news reports said. One of Mabri’s aides later returned the camera to the journalist, but all of the photographs had been deleted, Stéphane Bahi, the editor of Le Nouveau Courrier, told CPJ.

No one has been arrested for the assault, according to local journalists. Bahi told CPJ that the newspaper planned to file an official complaint.

Edmond Doua, the director of communications to Mabri, told CPJ that the minister had not ordered the assault. Doua also said that the images had been deleted because the journalist had taken photographs of a private affair without any authorization. He said he had personally apologized to Le Nouveau Courrier and secured the release of the journalist’s equipment.

“We condemn the assault on Anderson Diédri in connection with his reporting on a public official,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita from New York. “If Ivoirian minister Albert Toikeusse Mabri did not order the attack, it is all the more imperative that he do everything in his power to identify Diédri’s assailants and bring them to justice.”

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Malabo, Equatorial Guinea – Equatorial Guinea has hosted the first day of the 9th Biennial Leon H. Sullivan Foundation Summit, which is being held in Malabo’s Sipopo Conference Center from August 20-24, 2012.

This year’s Sullivan Summit is focused on the continent’s development objectives under the theme of “Africa Rising,” and will address critical human rights issues as they relate to food security, human security, freedom of the press, education, civil-society development, gender empowerment, innovation and youth development, and building economies of opportunity.

“The African Diaspora is almost like another continent, and it can contribute to the development of the African economy,” said President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. “The developed countries need resources and Africa needs development.”

President Obiang continued to say, “It’s true we have problems but it also needs to be recognized that we have reached significant progress in the areas of education, healthcare, technologies, infrastructure and others. Equatorial Guinea offers great business opportunities, good climate, and natural resources.”

Through financial investments and the transfer of knowledge, the African Diaspora is having a significant impact on African development.

Today’s Sullivan Summit Plenary Session has focused primarily on reuniting the African Diaspora in order to form key partnerships that will shape African growth.

Equatorial Guinea has been increasingly active in African affairs in recent years. It has used its oil resources to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to its African neighbors, and it has conducted a robust regional foreign policy featuring bilateral summits, citizen exchanges, technical assistance and investment promotion. It has also hosted a number of regional conferences in its new facilities in Sipopo.

At the 2011 Sullivan Honors Awards, President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who received the Beacon for Africa award, discussed human rights programs in the context of African integration and development, stating, “The positive effects of these programs have resulted in an increased school ratio, life expectancy, malaria reductions, as well as the progressive increase of technical and professional staff.”

Image Courtesy of  US Army Africa

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