CHAD: NEW THREATS TO PRESS FREEDOM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NDJAMENA 001026

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/C, LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA-WATCHERS
INFO AF/PD (CANYASO)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM CD ASEC
SUBJECT: CHAD: NEW THREATS TO PRESS FREEDOM



1. (SBU) Summary: A harsh new proposed law governing the
press in Chad is back in the hands of its authors -
high-ranking cabinet members - after being simultaneously
recalled by the government and rejected by a National
Assembly commission, who qualified it as "repressive." The
proposed law, based loosely on the 1968 presidential decree
number 006, could have very negative consequences for press
freedoms in Chad if it is adopted. It proposes to strengthen
penalties against journalists for defamation, tighten the
educational and professional requirements for directors and
editors-in-chief, and give the High Council for Communication
(HCC) the power to review stories before they go to print.
Unswayed by critics, the Minister of Communication still
found ample reason to support the law's adoption, citing the
"non-professional and irresponsible" nature of the press, and
claiming that some journalists need to be imprisoned for
their own protection, lest they fall victim to clan violence.
End Summary.

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Proposed Press Law
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2. (SBU) On July 6th, the Government of Chad (in a Council
of Ministers session) adopted a proposal for a new law
governing the press and sent the proposal to the National
Assembly. The proposed law has three noteworthy components.
First, it strengthens libel and defamation laws in cases
involving the President, high-ranking government officials,
and foreign government officials and diplomats. Defamation
of the President, for example, would bring a penalty of one
to five years in prison, a fine of 200,000 to 1,000,000 FCFA
($400 to $2,000),or both. Second, the law strengthens
professional requirements on publication directors and
editors-in-chief, stipulating that they must be
"communication professionals" - a vague designation that some
media analysts believe can be interpreted anyway the GOC
likes (e.g. editors-in-chief must have a degree in
journalism, or a certain number of years of experience).
Third, the law proposes to expand the powers of the High
Council of Communication (HCC),which would receive a copy of
each newspaper before its publication, for review. The
substance of the law closely resembles presidential decree
number 006, first put into place in 1968, and replaced by Law
029 in 1993. In discussions with the Minister of
Communication, we also learned of plans to require new media
outlets to be certified both by the Ministry of Communication
and the Ministry of Commerce. The law was rejected by the
National Assembly commission, who described it with the
snappy neologism "liberticide," a term picked up in the local
press. The law was simultaneously recalled by the GOC for
further review, but the Minister of Communication made clear
that the GOC plans to push some version of the proposed law
through.

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WHY NOW?
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3. (SBU) Since the arrest, imprisonment, and subsequent
release of three journalists and one 'collaborator' last
summer, Chad has appeared to be moving in the right direction
in terms of press freedoms. The French NGO Reporters Without
Borders (RSF),who met with the Minister of Communication and
the President in August 2005, came away from those meetings
with positive impressions, and informal commitments on the
part of the GOC that they would begin to move towards total
decriminalization in their press laws. RSF director Robert
Menard spoke widely about the positive tenor of these
meetings, and a period of relative peace between the GOC and
the media ensued. Pressures on the GOC have no doubt been on

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the rise since early 2006: from Darfur and the armed
rebellion, to the World Bank and the controversial
re-election of the President, the press has had much to
report, and report they have. More staunchly anti-government
media such as the Notre Temps and Le Temps newspapers, and
Radio FM Liberte, did not miss a beat in reporting every
government mis-step or perceived rebel victory in the lead-up
to the April 13 attacks. The more balanced Observateur
newspaper continued its strong critiques of the Deby regime,
while even the pro-government paper Le Progres (owned by the
secretary general of the President's MPS political party) has

SIPDIS
shown more balance in its reporting, often giving an
opposition view or a rebel statement to accompany the usual
party line.

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CONVERSATION WITH THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATION
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4. (SBU) These pressures on the GOC, and their own sense of
instability, may now be translating into a more repressive
set of press laws. In frank discussions with Minister of
Communication Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor on Friday, August 4th,
we heard a good deal about this sense of fragility, and
gained some insight into the psychology behind the new
proposed law. The GOC faces a choice, according to the
Minister: they can 1) decriminalize media laws; 2) strengthen
media laws, or; 3) leave current laws in place. Given what
the Minister called "bad mistakes by journalists," he
believes the only option left for the GOC is to strengthen
existing laws -- hence the proposal. According to the
Minister, the GOC is not concerned with press critiques of
government policy, or of how an individual performs his job.
What the regime will not tolerate, he said, were personal
attacks on the President, his family, or other high-ranking
members of government. This type of personal attack was
exemplified in late May, following the arrest of President
Deby's eldest son Brahim in Paris on weapons and drug
charges. (NOTE: Brahim Deby, once a purported successor to
the presidency, was given a six-month suspended sentence and
remains in Paris. END NOTE). After the story emerged, a
local paper led with the headline: "Like Father, Like Son,"
accompanied by picture of the President and lurid details of
the Paris arrest. This headline greatly angered the
President, the Minister of Communication reported, and led in
large part to the proposed law.


5. (SBU) The Minister spoke at length and in some detail
about the types of personal attacks he considers
impermissible, and which would be punished under the proposed
law. "It is not a problem to criticize policy," he said,
"but the press cannot call me a bastard, or a homosexual, or
a thief." Although "we've gone very far in terms of press
freedoms," the Minister said, "unfortunately, we have to go
back now. No one wants to send a journalist to prison," he
continued, "but we can't just let these things slide. We
need to strengthen our preventative measures, because the
press is not yet responsible." The Minister also advanced
his notion -- already familiar to those who followed the 2005
arrests -- that certain journalists could be put in jail "for
their own protection." "We live in a country where people
are killed for a handful of peanuts," he said. "These are
people, the Zaghawa, the Gorane, who settle their scores with
blood. So we would do this (put journalists in prison) as a
preventative measure."


6. (SBU) The Ambassador pointed out that parts of the new
law, and the Minister's statements, would be perceived
negatively outside of Chad -- for example, the Minister's
statement quoted in the pro-government Progres daily that
"the fear of Gendarmes marks the beginning of good behavior."

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In reply to the Ambassador's point that it is always
difficult to find a balance between freedom and
responsibility, the Minister stated that he was "optimistic
that one day we'll get to a point where we no longer send
journalists to prison in this country." The Minister seemed
keenly aware of the strongly negative view of imprisoning
journalists, and sensed that he could not win the battle in
this way, given the intense scrutiny Chad received last
summer from the international community. He admitted that,
under the proposed law, the first approach would be to "kill
newspapers financially, but not send anyone to prison."


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Comment
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7. (SBU) The proposed law, if approved, would be a stark
step backwards for press freedoms in Chad -- already
wallowing in the bottom quarter of Freedom House rankings
with a score of 74, tied with Kazakhstan. Four journalists
were imprisoned during the summer of 2005 on libel and
defamation charges, and subsequently released, in part due to
the relatively weak Law 029. Since then there has been an
uneasy truce between the GoC and the press. The new law,
according to local media and the Minister of Communication,
would make it much easier to imprison journalists on libel
charges, would allow the GOC to impose heavy fines on media
outlets, and subject all newspapers to a pre-print review
process by the HCC. In addition, since many senior Chadian
journalists do not have professional diplomas in journalism,
the law could make it easier for the government to close a
media outlet, or disallow formation of a new outlet, for the
sole reason that the director or editor-in-chief does not
pass the cut as a "communications professional."
WALL