English (
http://en.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-no-newspapers-on-sale-as-a-result-11-03-2011,39778.html
)
For French version, see (
http://fr.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-aucun-journal-dans-les-kiosques-11-03-2011,39769.html
)

*Reporters Without Borders (http://www.rsf.org)
Alert - Urgent*

11 March 2011

*COTE D'IVOIRE*

*No newspapers on sale as a result of political crisis*

 No newspapers were distributed today in Côte d'Ivoire, where the protracted
political impasse is creating an extremely grave if not impossible situation
for journalists and news media. As the country seems to head steadily
towards civil war, with casualties every day, journalists are being exposed
to threats, arrests and reprisals, and often have to risk lives to report in
some neighbourhoods.



Members of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) loyal to Laurent Gbagbo
raided the offices of country’s sole newspaper distributor, Edipresse, at
around 5 a.m. today and prevented employees from distributing newspapers
that support Gbagbo’s rival, Alassane Ouattara, regardless of the lack of
any order from the National Press Council, which regulates the print media.



A subsidiary of the French company Presstalis, Edipresse decided jointly
with its retailers not to sell any newspapers at all today in protest
against the raid and as a safety measure.



Reporters Without Borders has also learned that the Abidjan headquarters of
the *Abidjan.net* website decided to suspend operations after receiving
threats.



Two journalists are currently detained in Côte d'Ivoire, while one media
worker has been killed in the past two weeks. The detainees are *Abou Sanogo
* and *Gnahoré Charly* of *Télé Notre Patrie (TVNP)*, who were arrested on
28 January and are being held in the main Abidjan prison.



*Marcel Legré*, a printing press worker at La Refondation, the company that
publishes the pro-Gbagbo daily *Notre Voie*, was hacked and clubbed to death
on 28 February in the south Abidjan district of Koumassi.



----
Ambroise PIERRE
Bureau Afrique / Africa Desk
Reporters sans frontières / Reporters Without Borders
47, rue Vivienne
75002 Paris, France
Tel : (33) 1 44 83 84 76
Fax : (33) 1 45 23 11 51
Email : [log in to unmask] / [log in to unmask]
Web : www.rsf.org
Twitter : RSF_RWB


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