H.E. Mamadou Tandja
President
La Presidence
Niamey
Niger, West Africa
Republic of Niger
Your Excellency:
As members of the Overseas Press Club of America, which has defended freedom of the press for seventy years, we are writing to you to express our great concern about violations of such freedom in the Republic of Niger, apparently with your support and consent.
The latest developments to arouse our concern are the sweeping powers you have given to Daouda Diallo, chairman of the Conseil Supérieur de la Communication (CSC), your country’s media regulatory body, and the actions he has taken to censor news articles about the public opposition to your plans for a constitutional amendment that would scrap existing limits on presidential terms of office.
We also were saddened to learn that Niger’s independent print media were forced to suspend publication for the week ending July 27, and that radio and TV stations did not broadcast on July 21, to express their determination to resist these actions and the continuing restrictions on freedom of the press.
International news reports inform us that you have:
Assumed emergency powers after dissolving the Constitutional Court and Parliament which had resisted your amendment;Issued a decree granting Daouda Diallo, president of the Conseil Supérieur de la Communication (CSC), the High Council on Communications, sweeping powers of summary censorship over “any information that endangers state security or public order.” The decree authorizes the president of the Council to “take any restraining measures without warning” and without consulting the Council’s ten other members.
This decree follows a June 29, 2009 ruling by Council president, Daouda Diallo, to indefinitely ban Dounia Television and Radio after the network broadcast an opposition political statement. Diallo accused the station of broadcasting “a call for insurrection in the defense and security forces.”
However, we also understand that six of the CSC’s other ten members opposed the ruling by Mr. Diallo on the grounds that it was enacted without internal consultation. Subsequently, we have learned that a High Court judge agreed and threw out the Dounia suspension on July 2. A second ruling by the Supreme Court rescinded a previous one-month suspension of Dounia that was linked to the station’s extensive coverage of the opposition leader Hama Amadou, who had been imprisoned previously.
Under your administration, the CSC has also banned, since July 8, any live programming that discusses the current political crisis. Several journalists at other media outlets are facing criminal prosecution for their journalistic activities.
As stated in a recent letter to you from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ): “These restrictions effectively deprive the people of Niger of the opportunity to participate in a critical political decision that has long-term consequences for the country. Granting a single individual the authority summarily to censor critical media reports de-legitimizes this entire process.”
The U.S. White House press secretary has issued a statement pointing out that your recent actions “to rule by ordinance and decree . . . undermine Niger’s efforts over the last ten years to advance good governance and the rule of law.”
The Overseas Press Club of America joins with CPJ in urging you to rescind the presidential decree, end the censorship, restore freedom of the press, and allow the media to perform its proper function at this important moment in Niger’s history.
Respectfully yours,
George Bookman
Norman A. Schorr
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
H.E. Seine Oumarou
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Niamey
Niger, West Africa
Republic of Niger
Fax: (011.227) 78.58.59
H.E. Aminata Djibrilla Maiga Toure
Ambassador of Niger to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Republic of Niger
2204 R Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Fax: (202) 483.3169
Ambassador Aboubacar Ibrahim Abani
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Nigerto the United Nations
417 East 50th Street
New York, NY 10022
H.E. Bernadette M. Allen
U.S. Ambassador to Niger
Embassy of the United States of America
Niamey, BP 11201
Niamey, West Africa
Niger