Authorities obstruct trip to Banjul for Hydara murder anniversary

Obstructive Gambian officials prevented a Reporters Without Borders representative from travelling today to Banjul to attend a conference being held by the Gambia Press Union (GPU) on December 15-16 to mark the first anniversary of the murder of The Point co-editor Deyda Hydara on December 16, 2004, the press freedom organisation said.

"The Gambian government's ill-will made it impossible for us to be with Hydara's family to mark the end of a year of mourning," Reporters Without Borders said. "We deeply regret being unable to go to Banjul to express our solidarity with Gambia's independent press, which has suffered so much in recent years, but we reaffirm to the family our commitment to see justice done."

The head of the Reporters Without Borders Africa Desk was unable to depart this morning for Banjul because the Gambian authorities failed to issue a visa in time.

The visa request, accompanied by copies of the airline tickets, a letter of invitation by the GPU and a Reporters Without Borders letter authorising the trip, was handed in to the Gambian embassy in Paris on November 24. Visas are supposed to take 48 hours to issue. An embassy official said the visa would be ready on November 28.

Despite Reporters Without Borders' daily calls to the embassy, no explanation has ever been given for the delay. The Gambian foreign ministry did finally tell Reporters Without Borders that the GPU's letter of invitation was not valid because it was not addressed to the head of the Africa desk by name. GPU president Madi Ceesay immediately sent a new letter to the ministry while Reporters Without Borders sent a copy to the embassy in Paris.

The Gambian foreign ministry finally gave the green light to its embassy in Paris at 6:30 p.m. yesterday (Paris time), but by then, the consular section was already closed, so it was too late to issue the visa to the Reporters Without Borders representative in time for him to board his flight for Banjul via Dakar at 9 a.m. today. In view of this behaviour by the Gambian authorities, Reporters Without Borders has decided not to go to Banjul.

Leonard VINCENT
Bureau Afrique / Africa desk
Reporters sans fronti่res / Reporters Without Borders
5, rue Geoffroy-Marie
75009 Paris, France
Tel : (33) 1 44 83 84 84
Fax : (33) 1 45 23 11 51
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Contact info:

Lucie Morillon
Reporters Without Borders
Washington Representative
Southern Railway Building
1500 K Street, N.W., Suite 600
Washington DC, 20005
Tel: 202 256 5613
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Web: www.rsf.org

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