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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New York, U.S.A. — Ivorian authorities should halt censorship of critical news outlets and investigate an armed assault on the offices of a publishing group, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on August 27.

“We call on President Alassane Ouattara to demonstrate tolerance and a commitment to democratic principles,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita from New York. “As the country weathers a period of great tension, the president can set an important example by allowing the voices of opposition to air their concerns and opinions, as harsh as they may be.”

The state-run National Press Council suspended the daily Le Temps on August 3 for 20 editions in connection with a July 24 article that it said defamed Ouattara, Raphael Lakpé, the council’s chairman, said in an interview on U.N.-sponsored station ONUCI FM. Le Temps, which is loyal to the former leader Laurent Gbagbo, had published an opinion piece on violence between supporters of Ouattara and those of Gbagbo and called the president a “ghoulish vampire,” according to news reports. Opposition groups have accused Ouattara and his allies of targeting supporters of Gbagbo in the past.

Le Temps’ editor-in-chief, Simplice Allard, was also suspended from writing for the paper for one month, news reports said.

On Sunday morning, a group of unidentified armed men attacked the offices of the Cyclone Media Group, in Abidjan, which publishes Le Temps, according to news reports. The men assaulted a security guard, set a room on fire, ransacked the offices, and stole several computers, Agence France-Presse reported. No one was injured in the attack, which caused significant damage to the offices, AFP said. Police have not made any arrests yet, local journalists said, adding that they believe the attack on the media group was in reprisal for Le Temps’ critical coverage of Ouattara’s government.

In another case of official censorship, the National Press Council suspended Bôl’ Kotch, a private satirical newspaper, on August 8 for eight issues, over articles and cartoons critical of Ouattara that appeared in its July 27 edition, the state news agency AIP reported. The council singled out a caricature of an exchange between Ouattara and an army chief that suggested the president was using ethnic groups of traditional hunters to fight pro-Gbagbo supporters in the ongoing unrestin the country, according to news reports.

At least one journalist who has extensively covered the activities of former leader Gbagbo has told CPJ he fears for his life. Alain Tiéffi, photo editor of the state daily Fraternité Matin, said his neighbors had suggested to him that he leave their house in Yopougon, a suburb considered a Gbagbo stronghold. Security forces, in response to armed attacks against government positions, have in recent weeks conducted raids on houses in Yopougon and arrested people suspected of being linked to armed supporters of the ousted leader, according to news reports.

Tiéffi told CPJ that fighters loyal to Ouattara had ransacked his house in May 2011 and pointed a gun at his head. “I am the only journalist in the area I live. My wife, children, and in-laws are all living with me. Right now, I don’t know what to do. I am scared,” Tiéffi told CPJ.

Gérard Gnawa, a spokesman for the police in Abidjan, would not tell CPJ if they were investigating the case.

A group of six pro-opposition dailies have refused to publish their newspapers on August 24 and 25 to protest the attack on the Cyclone Media Group and the threats and assaults Ivorian journalists have faced in recent months, according to news reports. The group said the refusal to publish was to display “the risk of death that hangs over the lives of journalists.”

Image Courtesy of  bbcworldservice

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Harvest Field Pentecostal was attacked by a car suicide bomber June 3, 2012. The bombing occurred in Bauchi, the capital city of the Bauchi state in Nigeria. Around fifteen are believed to have been killed and at least thirty have been wounded. The attack occurred in between the first and second services of the morning when many people were entering and leaving the church. The Bauchi State Government has called the attack an act of cowardice.

Commissioner of Police Mohammed Ladan explained the events of the attack. According to the commissioner, “the suicide bomber in a vehicle, a Honda Civic, attempted to force his way into the iron barricade at the entrance of Living Faith Church in Yelwa but was denied entry. In the process, the suicide bomber succeeded in detonation his explosives at the barrier opposite Harvest Field Church of Faith.”

Although the car did not hit the church building the blast caused a wall of the church to fall. The roof then caved in injuring and killing some of those inside.

Johson Akpeno, the Associate Pastor of the church, asked members not to retaliate and to remember the teachings of Christ.

The radical Islamist group Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege” in the Hausa language of Nigeria, claimed responsibility for the attack. In its statement claiming responsibility, the sect also threatened journalists across Nigeria for writing biased stories about the bombing and against its group.

Another explosive device was found under a nearby bridge that is also near Dass Motor Park along Yelwa Road. The bomb was found in time and was defused by a police anti-bombing squad.

Nigeria is a nation divided religiously into mainly Muslims in the north and Christians in the south. Nigeria has been battling with the radical group Boko Haram since around 2001 and is based in the northeast of Nigeria. Their main goal is to impose Sharia law across Nigeria. Boko Haram has killed more than 550 people this year alone according to the Associated Press.

On June 5, 2012 the Nigerian police entered into a gunfight with Boko Haram militants in the group’s stronghold city of Maiduguri, in the northeast of the country. The gunfight lasted several hours and several civilians were hit with stray bullets. Sixteen suspected members were killed but no Nigerian soldiers were harmed. After the attack the Nigerian government seized weapons and explosives from a house during a house-to-house search of the area.

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Paris, France – On 9 February, Isa Sa’idu, the Kaduna bureau chief of the Daily Trust, was threatened by Lieutenant-Colonel Abubakar Edun, spokesman of the army’s First Mechanised Division, for having reported that soldiers had manhandled journalists trying to cover the bombing of a division barracks in Kaduna on 7 February. His equipment was seized.

On the same day at the same location, Umar Uthman a cameraman with the private station African Independent Television and a colleague from government-run Katuna State Television both had their cameras confiscated.

On 7 February, agents of the State Security Service raided the offices of the Nigerian Television Authority in Abuja in search of video recordings that showed members of Boko Haram nominated to take part in talks with the government. The cassettes were taken away by the agents, who said they were acting on government orders.

On 5 February, the French journalist Jérémie Drieu, a reporter for the channel TF1, and a local colleague Ahmad Salkida, were arrested by soldiers in the city of Jos in Plateau State. They were forced to show all the material they had filmed before being forced to pack and leave the state at nightfall. They were apprehended when it emerged that a documentary on which they were working would be critical of the government.

On 4 February, the press centre at Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, opened 30 years ago, was closed by the Nigerian authorities on the orders of the head of the protocol department attached to the airport’s presidential wing, Alofabi Oduniyi. He was reported to have accused journalists accredited to the centre of writing articles that were negative and prejudicial to the interests of the president. More than 60 journalists have been prevented from recovering their equipment locked inside the centre.

Martins Ayola, general director of the station Adaba FM, which broadcasts in Ondo State, said there was a price on the head of some of its senior staff for broadcasting critical programmes and they were being hunted by contract killers. One of the station’s programmes, “Oja-Oro”, was ordered off air by the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation for allegedly trying to turn listeners against the governor, Olusegun Mimiko.

On 1 February, Kayode Akinmade, the commissioner for information and strategy, launched a petition against the programme that succeeded “Oja-Oro”, entitled “Ela Oro”, alleging it was broadcasting negative perceptions of the government.

Also on 1 February, Goke Famadewa, a journalist for The Punch newspaper, was manhandled by police attached to the Lagos office of Shell Nigeria. The journalist, who was reporting on a dispute inside the company, was beaten up for taking photographs of the premises. The police officers deleted all his photos before releasing him after two hours.

On 25 January, newspaper vendors Okwudili Nnadi, Tochukwu Onuigbo, Ugwu Stephen and Martha Agbedo – who had her five-month-old baby with her – were arrested by state police in Nsukka, in Enugu state. All copies of newspapers in their possession were seized based on the argument that they stirred up popular unrest because they contained photos of the victims of Boko Haram attacks. They were released after several hours but they were unable to recover the confiscated copies.

Again on 25 January, Stanley Mijah, a journalist for The Scope published in Adamawa State, was indicted by a court in Yola for having in his possession sensitive articles which, if published, might disturb public order.

Abdullahi Adamu Kanoma, a journalist with Zamfara State Radio, was charged with criminal conspiracy, inciting public disturbance, illegal assembly and mischief by fire. He was arrested while on his way to the police headquarters to interview the commissioner after the fuel price protests of recent months. He was approached by police officers and told his name was a list of people to be arrested for taking part in the marches. His trial began on 6 February before the Zamfara State Sharia court.

Problems persist in April, two more suspicious deaths

Before April ended with the twin newspaper bombings in Abuja and Kaduna, there were two suspicious deaths of journalists. Reporters Without Borders is unable to determine whether they were linked to the victims’ work.

On 16 April, Chuks Ogu, a journalist with the station Independent Television, was shot dead by a gunman who burst into the apartment of a couple whose wedding he had been filming and opened fire. The circumstances of the murder are still unclear and it is not know whether the journalist was the target or simply an innocent victim.

On 3 April, the body of Ibrahim Muhammed, a film editor with the commercial TV station African Independent Television, was found in a pool of blood in his apartment in Kaduna. According to his family, he had been followed home on two occasions by unidentified people. An investigation was opened on 4 April, but there have been no serious efforts to find those responsible.

A Dangerous Country for Journalists – Part 1

A Dangerous Country for Journalists – Part 2

A Dangerous Country for Journalists – Part 3

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Paris, France – The body of radio reporter Nansok Silas, who worked for Highland FM, was found on 19 January in a stream under a bridge on the Zaramagada-Rayfield road, 200 metres from a military checkpoint, in Jos, northeast of Abuja. Nothing of value was taken from him and colleagues suspect he was the victim of a targeted murder, but the cause of death and possible motive are still unknown.

Originally from the Langtang North area in Plateau state, he had worked for Highland FM for three years and hosted a programme called “Highland Profile”. He had not received any threats. Reporters Without Borders has called on the authorities to carry out a thorough investigation and to do their utmost to shed light on his death, and to consider the possibility that it was linked to his work.

On 3 January, the Kano office of the Daily Trust was invaded by vandals who tried to smash up the premises and assault staff. Only one person involved in the failed attempt was arrested. He was charged with criminal conspiracy, assault, criminal trespass and mischief by fire.

Obstructing access to information and controlling the state’s image

There was glaring evidence during the first quarter of 2012 of the Nigerian authorities’ desire to control the country’s image and monitor what the media publish or broadcast.

The government demonstrated its resolve to hide the real extent of the population’s demonstrations of dissatisfaction, as well as the threat presented by Boko Haram.

It seems as if the obstruction of access to information, seizures of newspaper print runs and equipment, as well as threats and lawsuits against journalists are aimed at allowing the government to play down its own weakness and the difficulties faced by the country,

On 13 March, police and troops manhandled several journalists covering a visit to Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, by the first lady, Patience Jonathan. Dare Fasuba, of The Vanguard, Akinwale Aboluade of The Punch, Gbenro Adesina of The News/PM NEWS, and Sola Adeyemo of Compass Newspapers were prevented from entering Lekan Salami Stadium, while others such as Bisi Oladele of The Nation were beaten when they tried to exercise their right to cover the event.

A few days earlier, Jude Obiemenyego, a journalist with the newspaper Zion Nationale, was arrested by an officer of the State Security Service, for having exposed a case of corruption involving the ex-wife of the former government of Delta State. He was arrested in the woman’s office and threatened with a gun before being taken to police headquarters where he was held for several days. Since his release, he has received telephone death threats from unidentified callers.

On 7 March, an unidentified journalist was assaulted by police officers deployed to break up protests by youths at the Stubb Creek oilfield in the southern state of Akwa Ibom. The journalist fled to escape further violence.

On 23 February, Misbahu Bashir, a reporter for the Daily Trust, was refused access to the headquarters of the Aguryi Ironsi brigade in Abuja and was forced to stay in his car for three hours by soldiers outside the building. The journalist was seeking information about the arrest by brigade troops of 99 passengers travelling in a truck that had been stopped on the Kaduna-Abuja highway.

He said he was detained after asking to see the brigade commander instead of the public relations officer, a captain, with whom he had originally requested a meeting.

The reporter was allowed to leave after he was made to write down his name, address and vehicle registration number.

On 18 February, Iyatse Joshua, of the radio station City FM, was arrested by Lagos police while he was covering a procession organized by human rights activists and organizations in remembrance of those killed by security forces a during the week-long nationwide strike and mass protest against the abolition in January of fuel subsidies. He and a number of activists were taken to the offices of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. All were released several hours later on the orders of the chief of police.

On 14 February, Suleiman Isah, a reporter with the Daily Champion, was barred from entering the Niger State government headquarters by members of the State Security Service, despite having appropriate accreditation. The security officers threatened him before he was allowed to leave the premises.

Earlier, a Voice of America reporter was manhandled by security men in similar circumstances outside the Justice Idris Legbo Conference Centre, a few metres from the government building.

On 13 February, journalists from The Nation, ThisDay, The Punch, The Guardian and Nigerian Tribune were forced to leave by soldiers posted at the entrance to a hospital next door to the government headquarters in the northern city of Kaduna. They were reporting on an attack by some of the governor’s guards on an information ministry official, whom they mistook for a member of Boko Haram.

A Dangerous Country for Journalists – Part 1

A Dangerous Country for Journalists – Part 2

A Dangerous Country for Journalists – Part 3

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The American Graduate School in Paris (www.ags.edu) announces the publication of ‘The Scramble for African Oil: Oppression, Corruption and War for Control of Africa’s Natural Resources’ by one of its professors, Douglas Yates. The book was released by London’s Pluto Press on January 17th, 2012.

The Scramble for African Oil demonstrates how the international demand for oil contributes to the chronic political, economic and security problems plaguing Africa. Douglas Yates approaches this topic in ten separate discussions, such as domination by multinational corporations, anti-corruption initiatives by the international community, censorship of journalists and intellectuals, and oppression by praetorian regimes and terror.

The book features country case studies including Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Angola,Chad, Sao Tome, Equatorial Guinea, and Sudan. Professor Michael Watts of UC Berkeley says: “Yates brilliantly scales the walls of the oil fortress in Africa and shines a light into the complex politics – local, national and global – of the oil and gas industry and offers some insight into possible routes out of the swamp of failed oil development.”

Douglas Yates is professor of African studies at the American Graduate School in Paris. For the past twenty years he has been working on the politics of the international oil industry and related issues, primarily the question of oil dependency in Africa. He has been a consultant for governmental and non-governmental organizations; the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Catholic Relief Services, and the British Chatham House, among others. His publications include five books and several edited chapters.

The American Graduate School in Paris (AGS) is a nonprofit institution of higher education offering US programs in France to students from around the world. AGS specializes in international relations and diplomacy as well as international business. Programs are taught in English and include Master’s, Ph.D., certificates, and undergraduate or graduate study abroad.

The AGS research center recently publishedCrimes Against Women (Nova Publishers, New York: 2010), a collective work edited by David Wingeate Pike under the direction of Eileen Servidio, with a foreword by Bangladeshi author and human rights advocate Taslima Nasrin. The next project of AGS’s research center is related to African politics and will be announced shortly.

For more information:
www.ags.edu/international-relations/douglas-yates-the-scramble-for-african-oil
The Scramble for African Oil on the publisher’s website

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Around the world, LGBT persons have committed suicide, got depressed, developed psychological and physiological problems because of rejection and stigmatization in the society.

As a result they are open to limited health care and employment opportunities. Although not so many of them likes being stigmatized and discriminated they still cannot avoid being LGBT persons because It isn’t their mind that’s pushing them to be looked down upon. Their mind is what is making them LGBT.

PSN Newsletter vol 5 (2010) Transgender Today reported from a Transgender interview that,” LGBT is not a fashion trend that anyone can follow it is a thing of the mind that they have absolutely no control over it and that while they physically look like men or women, in their heart they are more of the opposite sex”.

Haven lived in Thailand — a country with the highest number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people tolerated by society however, there is much more to it than being treated equally in the society.

Despite the fact that there has not been any physical assaults recorded or refusal of allowing same sex lovers living and doing things together, Thai LGBT cannot be civil servants, nurses, doctors, politicians nor can they serve in the military.

Many of The African countries like Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, Liberia to mention a few being LGBT are seldom mentioned let alone declared in public. To be LGBT here causes a double rejection by your own family and the society at large. Also the strong religious and cultural roots in many of the African countries like Kenya, Cameroun, Republic of Benin and the likes complicate the LGBT community.

While these countries are members of the United Nations they are not complying with U.N. Human Rights Law with regards to people of diverse sexual orientation, and gender identities which can be categorized as: “(a) non-discrimination (b) protection of privacy right and (c) the ensuring of other general human rights to all, regardless of sexual orientation, and gender identity.”

The LGBT communities in the aforementioned countries operate in secrecy for fear of rejection, losing their jobs and family conflict thus, making them fugitives in their own lands.

LGBT cases are crucial around the world. Even with civilization it still seems impossible to overcome however, some Countries and Organizations have come to accept LGBT communities, affording them human rights notable amongst them is the legalization of same sex marriage in Germany, New York City, Massachusetts of the United State and the U.N. Gay Rights Protection Resolution Passed recently.

We call on other countries to emulate New York Supreme court, the United Nations and adhere to the words of Barack Obama who spoke on behalf of LGBT persons worldwide on the July 24, 2011.

I sincerely believe that “No culture or religion, translated into prejudice by a government official, religious leaders or lay man, should supersede the basics of humanity and respect for diversity.”

And also the fact that LGBT are a small fraction of the World’s population does not mean that they are wrong at least the majority is not always right.

Zherui WU / Shutterstock.com

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