Opposition decries press crackdown in Gambia

Gambia’s press union and an opposition party on Thursday condemned the shutting down of a community radio station for providing a daily review of the independent press.

“The Gambia Press Union is deeply concerned over the closure of the station, which is an affront to The Gambia’s democratisation process,” the union said in a press statement.

The country’s third biggest opposition party the Gambia Moral Congress (GMC) said in a statement “the relentless and persistent guerrilla-style attack against the private media has to stop, and should attract immediate, clear and specific consequences.”

“GMC condemns in the strongest of terms conceivable, this latest unacceptable escalation in the persecution of the media, which is both unconstitutional and in conflict with The Gambia’s obligations under international law …”

Teranga FM remained off air on Thursday a day after National Intelligence Agency officials stormed the premises and ordered it shut down.

Established in 2009, the radio had been carrying pick-ups from local newspapers in the main Gambian local languages, generating a lot of attention from the mainly illiterate public.

In January 2011, the radio station was closed down by the state authorities only to resume operations while suspending its press review.

Gambia is ruled by the authoritarian President Yahya Jammeh, a former military officer who seized power in a 1994 coup and brooks no dissent in a country often blasted by rights bodies for abuses.

After his re-election in November last year, Jammeh said journalists are “free to write what you like, but you should be ready to be accountable.

“Somebody said that this country is a hell for journalists, well there are freedoms and there are responsibilities. Being a journalist does not mean licence to kill. Character assassination will not be accepted.”