Hundreds of people have lost their jobs after Guinea’s ruling junta banned four radio stations and two television channels, the main press union has said, while preparing for a general strike.
The Union of Press Professionals of Guinea (SPPG) on Monday threatened an unlimited general strike after authorities withdrew the operating licences of the six media outlets, in an already tense social and political climate.
The SPPG called for the support of all trade unions in a letter seen by AFP on Wednesday, addressed to the National Confederation of Guinean Workers, the main union body.
“We find ourselves with more than 700 jobs suddenly lost in the media sector,” the SPPG said.
It described the junta’s approach as “repressive” and said the media bans were causing a “social and humanitarian disaster”.
The authorities said the ban introduced last week on radio stations FIM FM, Radio Espace FM, Sweet FM and Djoma FM, as well as Djoma TV and Espace TV, was over a “failure to comply with the content of the specifications”.
They justified the move by saying the media outlets were guilty of “frequent misconduct” and violating “human dignity”.
The banning of the six broadcasters is the latest crackdown on the media imposed by the junta, which seized power in the West African nation in 2021.
Junta-appointed Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah on Monday launched a fresh attack on the press, invoking the country’s “fragile environment”.
Oury Bah drew parallels with the role of the “ultra-partisan press” in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and during post-election violence in Ivory Coast from 2010 to 2011.
“We cannot allow ourselves, in a context of widespread destabilisation in West Africa, to give free rein to mechanisms likely to undermine the fundamentals of stability and national security,” he said.
“Freedom of the press does not mean absolute licence to insult or defame,” he added.