According to CAP's release, there are indications that other local dailies will soon follow a similar course. The release states that with the media sector facing huge financial challenges: 'the State shows the independent media contempt, and its branches continue to issue decisions and injunctions that suggest a clear and assumed desire to kill off the country's private news platforms'.

The release further deplores the newly-elected authorities' failure to offer dialogue and consultation or to find concerted solutions to the crisis. "The State will not bring order to the media sector with an agenda of multiple pressures (tax inspections, confiscation of the FADP, formal demands for payment of royalties by TDS, termination and suspension of payments of commercial agreements by public structures)".

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said that independent media play an important role in the strengthening of democracy, good governance and the rule of law. 'We know that the media, the world over is facing a huge crisis, governments cannot ignore appeals for dialogue and consultation in order to rescue media outlets, especially a government that has previously provided support for the media. Any form of unwillingness to engage CAP in a fruitful dialogue signals a dangerous trend that will damage the role of independent media in informing the public and mobilising the citizenry for democratic participation'.

The IFJ urges the government of Senegal to do everything possible to involve CAP in a constructive dialogue to initiate a pathway that will curtail the closure of media outlets and save the jobs of numerous journalists and media workers.

For more Information, please contact the IFJ - Africa Office

1st Floor, Maison de la Presse, 5 Rue X Corniche, Medina,

BP 64257, Dakar, Senegal

Tel: +221- 33 867 95 86/87; Fax: +221- 33 827 02