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afrol News, 24 October - According to information gathered by the French media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF - Reporters Without Borders),the Gabonese Ministry of the Interior has given orders to the head of Sogapresse, a Gabonese press distributing service, to stop distributing the satirical newspaper 'Le Gri-Gri International'. In a letter to Minister of the Interior Mboumbou Miyakou, RSF asked for an explanation following this order given to Sogapresse. "The banning of 'Le Gri-Gri International' demonstrates yet again the authorities' efforts against press freedom in Gabon," stated Robert Ménard, the organisation's secretary-general. - The will to muzzle the press is all the more glaring when one considers that no official explanation was offered, added Ménard. "Once again, the head of state's sensitivity has collided with a satirical newspaper that has been very successful in Gabon." RSF underlines that in his book "Blanc comme Nègre" (White as Black), Gabonese President Omar Bongo stressed his commitment to press freedom. He notably wrote, "There are people, such as Mitterrand or myself, who do not lose sleep over criticism." According to information collected by RSF, on 18 October 2001, Mr. Barre, head of Sogapresse, asked that shipments of "Le Gri-Gri International" be stopped. Yet, a week earlier, Sogapresse had ordered more copies of the newspaper because of high demand for it in Gabon. National Chief of Police Jean-Claude Labouba summoned Barre on 15 October. Labouba told him to stop distributing "Le Gri-Gri International", explaining that this was on the instructions of the Ministry of the Interior. Criminal Investigation Department officers seized the last copies of the newspaper that were available in kiosks on 12 October. They did not have a warrant to carry out the seizure. RSF recalls that "La Griffe", a weekly that Michel Ongoundou Loundah published in Gabon before starting to publish "Le Gri-Gri International" from Paris, was suspended several times before being permanently banned. The first suspension came on 12 August 1998, following a sentence by the Libreville Correctional Tribunal in a defamation case. On 15 February 1999, the Libreville Appeals Court annulled the tribunal's decision. On 17 March 1999, the National Communications Council (Conseil national de la communication, CNC) suspended "La Griffe" on the pretext that the weekly's publication director and editor-in-chief did not reside in Gabon. Furthermore, in January 2001, President Bongo, his wife and his sister-in-law Gisèle Opra filed two complaints against "La Griffe" for slander. The two cases have yet to be heard (see IFEX alerts of 19 February 2001, 18 March 1999 and 17 August 1998). On 15 Feburary, the CNC suspended "La Griffe" and its supplement, "Le Gri-Gri", and temporarily barred publication director Ongoundou and editor-in-chief Raphaël Ntoutoume from working as journalists.
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