Media Foundation for West Africa (Accra)
17 September 2007
press release
Nasser Diallo, a reporter with Nolstagie FM, was on 6 September 2007 assaulted by officials of the "Coordination des Associations de Jeunesse de Guinée" (CAJEG), a coordinated youth group in Guinea.
The leader of the group, Alassane Sylla, detained Diallo for several hours and confiscated the journalist's microphone and tape recorder.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent reported that the incident occurred at Dalaba, a region about 320 km north of Guinea's capital Conakry. The journalist had gone to the region to investigate the activities of the group, which have been linked to the National Youth Council of Guinea (CNJG), a propaganda outfit for President Lansana Conte.
Diallo, who described his ordeal to the MFWA correspondent, said "I went towards Alassane Sylla with my microphone to interview him when he slapped me. I said nothing to him. (Some of the) participants at the meeting prevailed upon him to release me but he has not yet returned my equipment."
Another journalist, Cherif Papus Gono, a reporter with the Le Lynx- La Lance Press Group who photographed the attack, was also slapped by security personnel within the group. He told MFWA that the security men beat him and insulted him and that in the scuffle his cell phone and camera were stolen.
Unrepentant, Sylla told the journalists that "he did not give a damn" and asked them "to go and report [him] to whoever they want."
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