President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia has started clamping down on perceived opposition media organizations as he has ordered the closure of two radio stations: Teranga FM Radio and Hilltop Radio, based in Banjul.
The closure came amidst an escalating political crisis caused by President Jammeh’s refusal to accept his election defeat by the opposition candidate Adama Barrow on December 1st.
Teranga FM and Hilltop Radio were closed today, Sunday, said Emil Touray, head of the Gambia Press Union. Teranga’s headquarters were shut down by a police officer and four members of the National Intelligence Agency, he said.
A government spokesman said he could not confirm the closures even as Touray said that he had no further details.
It was not immediately clear why the two stations were targeted by Jammeh, under whose 22-year authoritarian rule the media has come under regular attack, rights campaigners say.
Teranga FM, popular for its review of newspapers in the Wolof and Mandinka languages, has been closed four times in recent years.
The station’s Managing Director, Alagie Ceesay was arrested in July, 2015, and charged with sedition. He was hospitalized twice in early 2016 while still in detention, Amnesty International said, and later fled to neighbouring Senegal.
Touray described the closure of the radio stations as is “a slap in the face of the country’s democratic process. People will not have access to information in this critical period of our history.”
Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup, initially conceded defeat to Barrow but later called for fresh elections, thereby drawing condemnation from local opponents and foreign powers.
His refusal to step hand over power later this month has opened up the possibility of a military intervention by West African forces after the ECOWAS body said it was putting military forces on alert. Jammeh called that a “declaration of war,”
Barrow’s election victory was seen as a surprising triumph for democracy in Gambia, which gained independence from Britain in 1965 but has since had only two presidents.
(NAN). [myad]
