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Tuesday
Feb 09th

Niger, Gambia are worst ranked countries on media tolerance

The global press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Tuesday named Niger and the Gambia as West Africa's worst ranked country in a 2009 league table of governments with zero tolerance for the media, a Press Freedom report, received here by PANA, indicated.

According to the report, 'Niger's President Mamadou Tandja was in a close-run race with his Gambian counterpart, Yahya Jammeh, in West Africa.

'It was taken in the end by Niger (139th), which fell nine places, two below Gambia (137th), which was again the victim of its president's intolerance towards the media.'

On the positive side, RSF hailed a group of African countries, including Mali, Ghana, Cape Verde and South Africa for being 'among the world's top 50'.

The report, compiled by the media freedom watchdog on yearly basis, catalogued press freedom violation indices and the latest covers September 2008 to August 2009.

'Press freedom must be defended everywhere in the world with the same energy and the same insistence,' Jean-François Julliard, RSF Secretary General, said.

Dakar - 20/10/2009

Pana