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Journo killed 'in cold blood'
24/10/2003 14:03 - (SA)
Windhoek - Media freedom institutions in Africa on Friday condemned the killing of a French reporter in Ivory Coast, saying they were distressed by the increasingly dangerous working climate for journalists there.
"The deteriorating political climate in Cote d'Ivoire has, in recent weeks, engendered a sense of resentment and acrimony within the politically polarised media institutions in the country," a joint statement by the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) and the Media Foundation of West Africa (MFWA) said.
"The MFWA is deeply distressed by the cold-blooded murder of Jean Helene, Cote d'Ivoire correspondent of the Paris-based Radio France Internationale."
Helene was shot in the head on Tuesday by a police officer while waiting in his car outside the police headquarters to interview detained opposition militants.
Foreign, and especially French, journalists have been subject to harassment from officials and security forces in the former French colony since September last year when a rebellion effectively cut the country in two.
Xenophobic attacks
MISA and the MFWA said the foreign media in the country have since then been the target of xenophobic attacks.
"Some national extremists have perceived the foreign media, particularly the RFI, to be sympathetic towards the rebels in the war," the statement said.
The Foreign Correspondents Association of Southern Africa (FCA) urged the Ivorian government to take appropriate action against Helene's killer. A police officer has been arrested in connection with the murder.
"Mr. Helene was a veteran journalist simply doing his job, attempting to interview jailed opposition members. His killing was brutal, senseless and unacceptable - even more so because it appears to have come at the hands of those entrusted to preserve law and order in Ivory Coast," the FCA said.
"The government of Ivory Coast must guarantee that all journalists, regardless of their nationality, can work freely and without fear for their safety."
- AFP
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