CAMEROON: Private radio station closed
IRINnews Africa, Wed 19 Mar 2003

ABIDJAN, - Cameroon's communication minister has ordered the closure of a private radio station, Magic FM, for running programmes critical of the government of President Paul Biya, the international media watchdog Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) reported on Tuesday. The authorities accused the Yaounde-based station of "affront to the president and state institutions, sedition and dissemination of false information".

Magic FM had denounced the mismanagement of public funds and the banning of a weekly, Tribune de l'Est, according to RSF, which said the station had also allowed callers to criticize the government. On ordering its closure on Friday, the authorities had said that it disturbed public order and good moral standards.

Magic FM is the third privately-owned broadcaster to have been closed by the government in a little over a month. In February, two television stations, RTA and Canal 2, were ordered shut because they were not licensed to broadcast original reports in Cameroon, only to relay foreign programmes, according to RSF. The stations had run a number of political debates in which the government had been criticised, RSF said.

The international watchdog called on the Cameroonian government to repeal its decision concerning Magic FM. It had earlier made a similar call on behalf of the two television stations.