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Alert

Journalist held incommunicado, released and declared persona non grata

(MFWA/IFEX) - Emmanuel Toumani Camara, a journalist in N'zérékoré, a region in south-eastern Guinea, was reportedly picked up at his house on 29 December 2009 and detained at the regional police headquarters for two days without charge. Camara is a local correspondent for the privately-owned, Conakry-based "L'Indépendant" newspaper.

MFWA's correspondent reported that armed policemen stormed Camara's house and violently dragged him to the station, allegedly on the orders of a chief director in the office of the N'zérékoré governor, Hassane Sanoussi.

Two days after his arrest, on 31 December, Camara was released upon the governor's intervention. He was held incommunicado.

The correspondent said the journalist's arrest followed an article he wrote on the renovation of the governor's office being funded by the European Union (EU). The article - entitled "Has the European Union suspended funding for the construction of the N'zérékoré Governor's offices?" - questioned why the renovation was still in progress despite the EU suspending financial aid to the country.

Meanwhile, MFWA has learned that the regional authorities have declared Camara persona non grata and he has currently left the region.