17 December 2004

AFP and Reporters Without Borders correspondent gunned down in Banjul

Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage and deep sadness today at the
murder last night of its correspondent in Gambia, Deyda Hydara, who was
shot three times in the head as he left his office in Banjul.

"Deyda Hydara's death is a tragedy that profoundly distresses all of our
staff," the organisation said. "We will go to Banjul as soon as possible to
help his family and demand a serious investigation by the authorities."

Aged 58, Hydara was the managing editor and co-owner of the independent
weekly The Point, and had been the local correspondent of Agence France-
Presse (AFP) since 1974. Entirely fluent in French, he was also one of
Reporters Without Borders' longest-serving correspondents in Africa,
putting his experience and authority at the service of press freedom since
1994.

His dedication and professionalism had been of great help to his fellow-
journalists in Gambia for years. He was married and the father of four
children.

He was shot by one or several persons as he left his office shortly after
midnight today. Two of his newspaper's employees who were with him were
injured in the shooting. The Gambian police said they are investigating.

The killing comes at moment of tension between the Gambian authorities and
the independent press. On 13 December, the national assembly passed a law
that makes all press offences punishable by imprisonment. Another newly
adopted law will increase the cost of an operating licence for newspaper
owners fivefold.

Reporters Without Borders had written to President Yayah Jammeh yesterday
urging him "to reconsider the national assembly's decisions and to not sign
either of these pieces of legislation into law, so that Gambia's
journalists are able work in an untroubled and professional climate."

Journalists recently campaigned successfully against the introduction of a
media commission which was seen as mechanism for thought control and which
was finally dissolved on 13 December. The new legislation runs counter to
that success and bodes ill for the practice of journalism in Gambia.

Source:http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=12104

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