Conakry – Radio journalists were on strike in Guinea on Wednesday, union officials said, protesting a “lack of attention” paid to them by the West African country’s ruling military junta.
Saa Martin Fancinadouno, the secretary-general of the union at national broadcaster RTG, said the military had “sidelined” the radio in favour of television since seizing power in a coup last month.
The military had paid radio journalists a “lack of attention,” he said, and only shared official statements with television journalists.
Radio journalists also only have access to two computers and one car, Fancinadouno said.
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Few of the main radio news programmes in Guinea have aired since Tuesday, when the strike began, according to AFP journalists.
The army has faced criticism for its treatment of media since it took power.
For example, this month Reporters Without Borders said several private media groups had been blocked from covering the interim prime minister’s inauguration ceremony on October 8.
Former special-forces commander Colonel Mamady Doumbouya launched a coup on September 5, ousting elected president Alpha Conde after months of brewing discontent against his government.
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Doumbouya defied broad condemnation of the putsch and was sworn in as interim president on October 1.
He has nevertheless promised to restore civilian rule after a transition period of unspecified length, and to unite the politically fractious nation of 13 million people.
Conde, 83, first won office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015. But last year, he pushed through a new constitution enabling him to run for a third term in October 2020.
The move sparked mass demonstrations in which dozens of protesters were killed. Conde won the election but the political opposition maintained the poll was a sham.
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Source: AFP
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