AFRICA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

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community stations now stands at 52, only 26 stations were broadcasting at year’s
end. On August 1, Edmond Zeghehi Bouazo, President of the National Council of
Audiovisual Communication, met with the promoters of community and commercial
radio stations to remind them of programming restrictions and the prohibition on
political content in programming. In 1999 Roman Catholic Church groups began to
operate four community radio stations: Radio Espoir in Abidjan, Radio Paix Sanwi
in Aboisso, Radio Notre Dame in Yamoussoukro, and Radio Dix-Huit Montagnes in
Man. Although the Muslim associations received a broadcast license in 1999, no
Muslim station had begun broadcasting by year’s end.
There are two television stations that broadcast domestically produced programs.
Both are owned and operated by the Government. Only one broadcasts nationwide.
Neither station criticizes the Government. The only private television station, Canal
Horizon, is foreign owned and broadcasts no domestically produced programs. The
Government has not accepted any applications to establish a privately owned domestic
television station.
On July 6, members of the military stopped journalist Frank Kouassi while he
was filming a segment for the television program ‘‘Point Media,’’ forced him into a
vehicle, and transported him to the Abgan Gendarme Camp for questioning. Captain
Fabien Coulibaly questioned Kouassi on the events of the July 4 and 5 mutiny
and on his relations with Ouattara before releasing him the same day.
The National Council of Audiovisual Communication (NCAC), established in 1991
and formally organized in 1995, is responsible for regulating media access during
the 2-week formal political campaign period and for resolving complaints about unfair
media access. Following the December 1999 coup, the previously PDCI-dominated
NCAC was taken over by the military Government. Because domestic television
is controlled by the state, the NCAC is unable to fulfill its mandate at times.
On October 9, Edmond Zegbehi Bouazo, president of the NCAC, announced that
each of the five candidates in the October 24 presidential elections would be granted
5 minutes per day on the radio as well as on television from October 9 to October
21. All of the radio channels broadcasted the messages of the candidates simultaneously.
However, during the campaign, the FPI complained that Guei was granted
more than the allotted 5 minutes on television daily; he and his wife’s activities
were broadcast at length.
The Government does not restrict access to or distribution of electronic media.
There are 12 domestic Internet service providers, of which 4 are major providers;
the first began operations in 1996. All 12 are privately owned and relatively expensive.
The licensing requirements imposed by the government telecommunications
regulatory body, ATCI, reportedly are not unduly restrictive.
The Government continued to exercise considerable influence over the official media’s
program content, news coverage, and other matters, using these media to promote
government policies. Much of the news programming during the year was devoted
to the activities of the President, the Government, the PDCI, and proGuei
groups. After Gbagbo took office, he indicated that the media would no longer be
pressured to devote programming to his and the Government’s activities.
In June Minister of Communication Sama stopped the airing of RDR announcements
publicizing a tour of the country by Ouattara. Sama claimed the spots featured
‘‘Nazi music’’ and forced the RDR to modify the advertisements. By the time
the spots were cleared, it was too late to provide publicity for the tour and the announcement
aired only once.
Beginning in August, when the presidential campaign began, government television
provided almost exclusive coverage of General Guei’s activities and excluded
coverage of the other candidates and their activities. While the political parties and
print journalists complained about this practice, the content of the programming did
not change; only occasionally it provided time to other candidates.
International journalists were subject to government harassment and intimidation
during the year. Following the September 18 assassination attempt on his life, General
Guei criticized RFI for reporting ‘‘lies’’ after it suggested that Guei had orchestrated
the assassination plot. Prior to the December legislative elections, government
authorities accused international journalists, such as RFI, of distorting the sociopolitical
situation and threatened them with brutality if they did not report more
news favorable to the government. Following the December legislative election, unidentified
callers threatened Bruno Minas of RFI. Minas claims that he was threatened
because he reported that RDR supporters were victims of government harassment
and abuse; subsequently he was forced to leave the country for his own safety.
Correspondents of AFP, the French daily Le Monde, and the BBC’s Africa Bureau
(BBCAfrica) also were forced to leave the country for their safety.
There is no known law specifically concerning academic freedom, although academics
have cited laws of French origin concerning the operations of universities to
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