Teranga FM, a Gambian radio station, critical of long-serving ruler Yahya Jammeh has been shut down
Intelligence agents on Sunday ordered the station to to cease operations for unspecified reasons, a security source and staff member said.
“Four National Intelligence Agency operatives and one police officer in uniform came to the radio station this afternoon (Sunday) around 2.30pm and told us to stop broadcasting,” a staff member told AFP on condition of anonymity.
In July 2015, Terenga’s station manager Alagie Ceesay was arrested by the country’s secret police on charges of sedition and “publication of false news” relating to allegations that he distributed images by mobile phone of a gun pointed at a picture of Jammeh.
Ceesay escaped from hospital where he was being treated in mid-April last year while on trial for sedition.
Jammeh, who has ruled the small West African country with an iron fist since taking power in a bloodless coup in 1994, lost December’s presidential election but has rejected the results and filed a court challenge.
He is regularly accused of rights abuses and repression of the media.
The shutting down of Terenga FM is the first first sign of a crackdown on the media since Mr. Jammeh rejected defeat in the 1 December poll.
Jammeh initially conceded to property developer Adama Barrow, but then launched court action to annul the result, saying the poll was marred by irregularities.
AU and the UN have urged to relinquish power when his mandate ends on January 20, with ECOWAS saying it will not hesitate to use force if Jammeh does not handover.
Thats Good Of them.