In Senegal, ruling party official said to threaten radio staff
May 28, 2007
New York, April 20, 2007—Critical comments made during a radio
call-in program Wednesday led a ruling party politician and his
supporters to threaten staffers at a private radio station in the town
of Mbacké, 105 miles (168 kilometers) east of the capital Dakar,
according to local journalists and media reports. The politician denied
making any threats.
Moustapha Cissé Lô and a dozen supporters came to Radio Disso FM in
response to an anonymous caller’s comments during a call-in show
devoted to the June parliamentary election. Station management met with
the group after a tense, 45-minute standoff, during which the
politician and his supporters clamored outside.
Lô, a candidate of the ruling PDS party, threatened to harm any
journalist who mentioned his name, and he warned that he would “send
vandals to ransack your radio,” Station Director Ibrahima Benjamin
Diagne said in a prepared statement. Lô, who is also a member of the
government’s Council of the Republic, denied threatening anyone,
according to private daily L’Observateur.
Lô and his supporters pressed Diagne to reveal the name and telephone
number of the caller, but the director refused, according to news
reports. The group left when Diagne summoned police. Diagne told CPJ he
later received numerous threatening phone calls from Lô and his
supporters.
“We condemn this attempt to intimidate Radio Disso staff—something that
is out of step with Senegal’s democratic tradition,” said CPJ Executive
Director Joel Simon. “We call on the authorities to investigate this
matter immediately and to prosecute those responsible.”
The Senegalese Syndicate of Information and Communication Professionals
has also condemned the threats. The station filed a complaint with the
police, Diagne told CPJ. L’Observateur quoted
Lô as saying that he had filed a counter-complaint demanding the
closure of the station and 200 million CFA francs (US$415,000) in
damages.
Diagne, 2003 winner of Radio France Internationale’s best radio report
award, is also a former reporter for the leading independent daily Wal Fadjri.
The station, which was founded in 2005, is owned by an influential and
apolitical Muslim cleric in Mbacké, according to local journalists.
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