Bissau, Aug. 27, 2024 (Lusa) - The Association of Women Journalists of Guinea-Bissau has denounced an ‘unacceptable violation of freedom of expression’ and expressed solidarity with Portuguese broadcaster RTP-Àfrica's colleague in Bissau, Indira Correia Baldé, who was prevented from covering activities linked to political power and government.
In a note of repudiation, to which Lusa had access on Monday, the association of women journalists, AMPROCS, refers to the ‘expulsion and impediment of Indira Correia Baldé’ from covering government activity on 22 August at a hotel in Bissau.
The case occurred when the acting minister of health, Maria Inácia Sanha, left the room when she noticed the presence of the journalist, who was later asked to leave.
‘According to reports, the minister's aide claimed that the action was taken in fulfilment of superior orders,’ says the AMPROCS note.
According to Correia Baldé, the minister's aide informed her that the ‘higher orders’ were from Guinea-Bissau's President, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, according to which the journalist could not be involved in any government activity.
The association of women journalists in Guinea-Bissau considers the act ‘a flagrant and unacceptable violation of freedom of expression and human rights’, enshrined in the Constitution and international treaties signed by the country.
The organisation stresses that it will not allow the voice of any of its members to be silenced.
‘Indira Correia Baldé, as well as being an exemplary professional, is also a leading member of AMPROCS, and any attack on her person and the exercise of her work is an attack on all of us,’ the statement said.
The organisation is calling on the authorities to take decisions so that acts of this kind are not repeated in Guinea-Bissau.
Indira Correia Baldé is the president of Guinea-Bissau's Union of Journalists and Media Technicians (Sinjotecs), which has had a tense relationship with the country's president.
Umaro Sissoco Embalo said, during the inauguration of new members of the government, that he had not given orders to prevent the journalist from covering the activities of the executive, but that he forbade her from ‘stepping foot in the palace while he is President of the Republic’.
Sinjotecs accuses the Guinea-Bissau President of ‘disrespecting the role of journalists’ following several episodes of Sissoco Embaló with media professionals.
In July, the union called on journalists to boycott all of Sissoco Embaló's activities, although the call was not fully respected.
In reaction, the Guinea-Bissau president said that he himself had boycotted the journalists and their union ‘because it was illegal’, alluding to the expiry of Correia Baldé's mandate.
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