Dakar – Media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on the junta that seized power in Guinea-Bissau last month for “safeguards for journalistic freedom” in the small west African country.
The military then suspended the electoral process and announced it was taking control for a period of one year, and this month published a “charter” laying out a legal framework for the transition.
But, according to media watchdog RSF, the military leaders have told all media outlets in the country “to cooperate in order to avoid disseminating information and messages inciting violence and civil disobedience, on pain of immediate closure”.
“Media executives have said they see this as a call for ‘self-censorship’ and fear the kind of news control that has imposed ‘patriotic’ news coverage stifling all independent and critical reporting in nearby countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso,” RSF said in a statement.
The watchdog highlighted the suspension by the junta of privately owned media for three days following the coup in Guinea-Bissau which it condemned as a “disturbing signal”.
Guinea-Bissau dropped to 110th place out of 180 countries in RSF’s world press freedom ranking this year, from 92nd place in 2024.
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Source: AFP
