H.E. Hama Amadou
Prime Minister
Niamey
Republic of Niger
Fax: +227 73 58 59
Vienna, 13 August 2004
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute, the global network of editors, leading journalists, and media executives in over 120 countries, is worried by the decision of the Niger police to detain a journalist on suspicion of interviewing an alleged member of a terrorist group.
According to information provided to IPI, Moussa Kaka, the head of the private Niger radio station, Saraounia, and a correspondent for Radio-France Internationale (RFI), was questioned by police on 12 August. Prior to his being taken to a police station, Kaka had interviewed an apparent member of the Tuareg rebel group, the Liberation Front of Air and Azawad (FLAA). In the interview, the man claimed responsibility for a recent terrorist attack.
On 10 August, gunmen, believed to be members of the FLAA, carried out overnight attacks on a number of buses travelling along a road in northern Niger. The buses were sprayed with bursts of automatic gunfire. Three people died during the attack, while 11 people were badly injured. Two police officers, returning to their base in Arlit after completing an operation in the northern town of Tahoua, were also kidnapped during the attack. The attack was similar to another attack on passenger and transport vehicles on 6 June.
A nomadic people, the Tuareg fought a rebellion between 1991 and 1995 in several countries straddling the Sahara desert. Fighting in northern Niger, the terrorist organisation demanded the formation of a federal system in the country that would enable the government to take over the control of rich mineral mines in the north and east. Currently, consortiums of foreign countries are running some of these mines.
Although the Niger government originally denied the claims, there were reports in early June that Tuareg rebels, who had been absorbed into the Niger army at the end of the conflict, had now deserted and were reforming the FLAA. The group is loyal to the former rebel leader and former tourism minister Rhissa Ag Boula. In February, Boula was sacked from his ministerial position and subsequently arrested for his alleged participation in the murder of a party official in Agadez. It is believed that the terrorist attacks are in support of the Minister and may be the start of an attempted uprising.
This is not the first time that Kaka has been questioned by the Niger police. On 23 August 2002, he was arrested and detained at the National Police Headquarters for ten hours. While there, he was questioned about his reports of an army mutiny in the southeast of Niger.
Taking into account the severity of the terrorist attacks and the kidnapping of the policemen, IPI acknowledges the right of the police force to discuss the matter with Kaka; however, IPI is concerned that Kaka has been taken to a police station for further questioning. IPI calls upon Your Excellency to do everything possible to obtain his immediate release.
The terrorist attack by the gunmen is a legitimate news story and journalists have a right to pursue this story, including interviews with possible terrorists, in accordance with their own professional principles and without harassment and intimidation from police officers.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
