More than 200 bodies threatened with closure: CAP is sounding the alarm in Senegal

The coordination of Press Associations (CAP) of Senegal recently increased the tone in the face of what it describes as authoritarian drift of the government in matters of freedom of expression and press. In a public declaration, the CAP is alarmed by repressive measures which seriously threaten the national media ecosystem.

According to the CAP, more than 200 press organs are currently threatened with closure. About twenty media officials have been summoned by the security services in recent weeks, in a context of worrying hardening. These acts, denounced as “arbitrary” and without clear legal basis, install a climate of fear and instability within the media landscape.

Read also: Senegal: the press under tension after the suspension of hundreds of media

Among the most criticized measures is the closure of the media declaration platform, an essential administrative tool for the official recognition of press structures. Added to this is the freezing of the press support and development fund (FADP), a financial system intended to support press companies and encourage pluralism.

For the CAP, these actions reflect a manifest desire to suffocate the independent media, by limiting their resources and their freedom of operation. She sees it as serious involvement in the democratic principles which found the Senegalese Republic.

An action plan to resist

Faced with this situation deemed untenable, the CAP announced a major action plan. This includes the organization of meetings with the authorities and partners in the sector, as well as a sit-in in front of the premises of the Ministry of Communication, intended to alert public opinion and demand a change of course.

In a country long cited as an example for the vitality of its democracy, this crisis challenges. Senegalese journalists, united under the banner of the CAP, claim their determination to defend the freedom of the press, an essential pillar of any rule of law.

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While looks turn to Dakar, the national and international community expects from Senegalese authorities to restore a conducive climate to the free exercise of journalism without delay.

Afriksoir