RSF: Western, local journalists in Niger under attack

Western and local journalists in Niger have been attacked while covering demonstrations against the backdrop of a military mutiny in the capital, Report informs referring to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

While covering the march in support of the 30 July coup, TV5Monde correspondent Anne-Fleur Lespiaut and Le Figaro correspondent Stanislas Poyet ‘received many verbal threats from demonstrators who were aggressively opposed to the presence of French journalists,’ the report noted.

Two days before, unidentified persons attacked journalists of the local television and radio broadcaster Anfani, who were covering a press conference of the presidential party ‘Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism – Taraya’, and also damaged the camera of the Bonferey TV channel.

“The attacks on press freedom that we are seeing in Niger are of utmost concern. So far, Niger has been the only country in the central Sahel free from the presence of military rulers. We remind the junta that the right to disseminate information must be respected. We urge to ensure that, in the current volatile situation in the country, journalists are no longer targeted by demonstrators and security forces,” said Sadibou Marong, director of RSF's sub-Saharan Africa office.