An international press freedom watchdog has criticised Chad's government for effectively forcing the only permanent foreign correspondent in the country to leave by withdrawing the French journalist's work permit.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Sonia Rolley, who reported for Radio France International and the Agence France Presse news agency, left N'Djamena on Thursday because the government suspended her accreditation.
The decision followed an assault by anti-government rebels against the capital N'Djamena early in February, which Rolley, 27, was one of the few correspondents to report on the spot as it was taking place. She had worked in Chad since October 2006. President Idriss Deby's government suspended Rolley's accreditation when a state of emergency was declared in the landlocked former French colony on February 14 after the rebel raid.
The government gave no public explanation but her work permit was not renewed when the emergency, which allowed authorities to control media coverage, was lifted on Sunday. "Chadian authorities clearly want to silence a prominent correspondent whose coverage was widely followed at home and abroad," CPJ executive director Joel Simon said in a statement issued late on Friday.
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