Africa Media Watch

Following recent attacks on several media organizations in Ivory Coast, and repeated threats against both domestic and foreign reporters, Media Watch looks at how the military uprising which broke out on 19 September continues to have an impact on the country's media:

Forced into silence

Ivory Coast's Communications Minister Sery Bailly, in a statement broadcast on Ivorian radio, publicly urged all sides to "leave journalists alone".

"In the nationwide crisis we are currently going through, editorial offices are attacked and ransacked. Journalists from all sides are being threatened and decide to silence themselves to avoid having their safety threatened," Mr Bailly said.

"Can Ivory Coast only offer journalists a choice between silencing themselves or being forced into silence?" the minister asked.

He denounced "in the name of the government all these attacks and all these threats".

"Using the opportunity of the nationwide ceasefire... I urge all of you to leave journalists alone and to give them a chance to contribute to the defence of freedom and to nation building," Mr Bailly said.

International concern

International media freedom watchdogs have expressed concern about the rising level of violence directed against the independent media in Ivory Coast, particularly the opposition media.

On 17 October 20 armed men in combat uniforms ransacked the offices of the private station Radio Nostalgie in Abidjan, causing considerable damage.

Local media 'should not worsen the situation by broadcasting statements likely to exacerbate the crisis'

Ivory Coast communications council

Radio Nostalgie director Hamed Bakayoko is also one of the principal shareholders of the Mayama Press Group. The offices of three of the group's newspapers - Le Patriote, Tassouman and Abidjan Magazine - were ransacked the previous day.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) both condemned the attacks.

According to RSF, threats have been directed against foreign correspondents, including those of the BBC, Radio France Internationale (RFI), France's TV5 and Gabon-based Africa No 1 radio.

Claims of partiality

A number of transmitters for state television and radio, as well as for Radio France International and other foreign broadcasters, have been sabotaged over the past month.

Ivory Coast's communications council boss has accused foreign media of bias in their reporting of the uprising.

Diegoy Bailly, chairman of the National Audiovisual Communications Council, described RFI's coverage of the crisis as "partial and biased".

He has also accused the BBC of "granting more airtime to rebels" in its coverage.

The Council also admonished local media "not to worsen the situation by broadcasting statements likely to exacerbate the crisis".

The local media, it said, should "inform the people with serenity," but not try to play the role of politicians, diplomats or the Ivorian armed forces.

Rebels on TV and web

Rebels in Ivory Coast meanwhile have begun broadcasting their own television programmes from their central stronghold of Bouake, the country's second largest city.

The programmes were broadcast on a regional channel of the national network, RTI (Ivorian Radio and Television), leading RTI director Kissi N'da Robert to voice suspicions that RTI workers in Bouake were colluding with the rebels.

Since its launch on Monday last week, the rebels' station has broadcast for a total of about two hours, showing a rally held on Sunday by one of the main rebel leaders, Sergeant Sherif Usman.

About 3,000 people attended the rally, where Usman explained the ceasefire with government and the reason they decided to enter negotiations.

Earlier this month, the rebels' political wing, the recently-proclaimed Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI), launched its own web site.

The site - www.supportmpci.org - contains MPCI communiques, reprints of press items devoted to Ivorian political issues and photographs of a demonstration outside the UN in New York against Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.