Dear friends,
 

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and more than 500 community radio stations issued a joint call for the protection of local journalism in the Sahel at a press conference in the Malian capital, Bamako, on 24 September and in a message broadcast via partner radio stations in six languages – French, Wolof, Mooré, Hausa, Bambara and Fulfulde.

Community radio stations are a vital component of the media landscape in West Africa. But political instability and violence by the region’s armed groups take a heavy toll on their reporters and presenters, and national authorities are unable to guarantee their protection. In the past 11 months, armed groups killed a community radio journalist and abducted two colleagues in an attack on their vehicle in Mali, and killed a community radio journalist in an attack on his home in Chad.

These crimes are just the latest examples of the steady decline in security for local journalists working in the Sahel, who are the only media professionals still able to work in the field in this region of Africa.

Community radio stations are crucial to keeping local populations informed, providing news in the languages and formats best suited to their specific audience. There are hundreds of these stations throughout the Sahel broadcasting local news. Providing them with both physical and economic protection should be a priority for regional, national, and international authorities. 

RSF continues to defend press freedom and the protection of journalists in the Sahel, as it does all over the world. Let’s keeping working together so that every human being can enjoy the right to reliable and independent news reporting. Help RSF’s work by making a donation. Thank you for your generosity.