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Alert

National Assembly adopts bill to liberalise airwaves and loosen governmental control on state-owned media

(MFWA/IFEX) - A new media bill that will liberalise the airwaves and insulate the state-owned media in Mauritania from governmental control was adopted by the country's National Assembly on 2 July 2010.

According to Hamdi Ould Mahjoub, the country's Communication and Parliamentary Affairs minister, when the law comes into force it will not only liberalise the electronic media but also eliminate the monopoly of the state over public media.

The bill is expected to become law in about ten months.

Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) correspondent said that the bill which was first read in the National Assembly in 2008 was put on hold following the military coup d'état on 6 August 2008.

The correspondent said prior to the suspension of the bill, a joint Senate-National Assembly Commission was supposed to have been established to amend it.

While commending the government for its resolve in passing this law, MFWA also encourages it to ensure that it amends other repressive laws that jail journalists and censor the media in Mauritania.