President
Adama Barrow
State
House of the Gambia
Banjul,
Gambia
Paris, 9 March 2017
Your
election has raised great hopes of democratic change in your country and it is
with this in mind that Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an international
organization that defends media freedom, would like to draw your attention to a
recent physical attack against a journalist.
Kebba
Jeffang, a reporter for the newspaper Foroyaa, was violently attacked by your
supporters during the press conference that your foreign, interior and tourism
ministers gave on 5 March. Your supporters ejected him from the room, hit him
and tore his clothes because he asked a question about the possibility of a
split in the ruling coalition in the run-up to legislative elections.
This
kind of arbitrary behaviour cannot be overlooked because it would mean
tolerating violence against journalists and allowing it to go unpunished, as
was the case under your predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, whose long years as
president were marked by many violations of human rights and freedom of
expression.
We
ask you to condemn this act of violence in an unequivocal manner so as to send
a strong message to your supporters and to all Gambians. We think it is
essential that your fellow citizens do not doubt that a new era, marked by
respect for media freedom and the rejection of any violence against
journalists, has begun under your presidency.
Your
country is ranked 145th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2016 World Press Freedom
Index and your predecessor was on RSF’s list of press freedom predators. Under
his regime, freedom of information was repeatedly flouted, communications were
cut or censored, and journalists were attacked, arrested, tortured, sentenced
to death or murdered. Some, such as Chief Ebrimah Manneh, disappeared without
any proper investigation by the authorities, leaving families deeply wounded.
In
this regard, we welcome the fact that you have shown a desire to investigate
these abuses by announcing a Truth and Justice Commission and, on 2 March, by
arresting a soldier suspected of having had a hand in the 2004 murder of Deyda
Hydara, co-founder of The Point newspaper and correspondent for RSF and AFP. We
urge you to ensure that these initiatives are more than goodwill gestures and
that they produce concrete results.
We
also hail your choice for the position of information, communication and
technology minister, Demba Ali Jawo, a former journalist and head of the Gambia
Press Union, who has promised the necessary legislative reforms.
In
this respect, we insist on the urgent need to repeal the law on sedition, which
has too often been used to imprison journalists and restrict free speech, and
on the need to amend the information and communication law and the penal code
(which were made more restrictive in 2013) in order to ensure that journalists
can no longer be imprisoned in connection with their work.
We
are aware of the extent of the challenges you face and the wounds that the
Gambian people must heal in order to move forward. Deep transformation is
essential in order to turn the page on the Jammeh era and to restore Gambians’
trust in state institutions.
This is first and foremost your battle but journalists also have a key role to play in a country’s democratic life. The men and women of the media must be able to work freely in order to rebuild trust between Gambians, democracy and the rule of law. To this end, we hope they will have your full support.
Sincerely,
Christophe
Deloire
Director-General
Reporters
Without Borders
