DAKAR, 15 January 2008 (IRIN) - Press freedom groups agree that an increase in arrests, intimidation and harassment of journalists in Niger is impeding development in one of the poorest countries in the world.

At least 14 journalists were arrested in Niger in 2007. Four of them are still in prison awaiting sentencing. Among them are the Niger correspondent of Radio France Internationale, the head of a Nigerien newspaper, and two French journalists who visited the country in December to report for a French television channel.

According to the Nigerien government, the four current detentions are related to reporting of an ongoing rebellion in the northern part of the country, which the government has banned all national and international journalists from covering.

The Ghana-based Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) announced in its annual survey released on 9 January that across the 16 countries it monitored in 2007, it had recorded 23 cases of press freedom abuse in Niger of a total of 142 cases recorded – the highest number in any West African country.

The MFWA does not, however, differentiate according to the severity of attacks. It counts journalists being banned from press conferences as equal to murders or physical assaults of reporters.

A weighted survey conducted by Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) in 2006 ranked Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Nigeria as worse than Niger for severity of press repression.

"We are concerned about what is happening in Niger but I certainly wouldn't say it is the worst country in West Africa," the head of RSF's Africa programme, Leonard Vincent, told IRIN, pointing to The Gambia as a much more dangerous place for reporters.

With four private television stations, more than 30 private radios, and dozens of independent newspapers in the capital, Niamey, Vincent said Niger actually has one of the most vibrant and unregulated media industries on the continent.

"There is real press freedom in Niger," he said.

Aissata Fall Bagna, head of the corruption watchdog Transparency International in Niger, said the media crackdown began in mid-2007 when the government started responding to a newly formed rebel movement operating in the north of the country.

Since then, restrictions have been imposed only on journalists who report on security-related issues, she said.

"Everyone talks about corruption freely in Niger," she said, also dismissing the MFWA's allegations that journalists in Niger face more repression than in some other West African countries.

"There are no taboos when it comes to reporting on corruption and development, and journalists let people have all the information they need about this, as well as other development, commerce and food security related subjects," she said.

"For Nigeriens liberty of the press is sacred because we think that to be a real democracy we need real press freedom. That does not however extend to security matters."

Transparency International (TI) ranked Niger 123rd in its 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index of 174 countries worldwide.

Nonetheless RSF's Vincent said the repression of information does have development implications. "I think the fact that an armed rebellion breaks out in remote areas, killing soldiers and laying landmines and the government reacts as it has with information blackouts and repression, that definitely hinders development," he said.

MFWA researcher Mohammed Shardow agreed. "If you look at development in West African countries it is clear that those with good press freedom are more developed economically than the rest, in part because journalists help provide a somewhat accurate gauge of public opinion for the government and others," he said.

"What counts is access to information and the right of people to take informed decisions freely and without repression," Shardow said.

The link between democracy, press freedom and development has been well articulated by several studies, including from the World Bank and United Nations, which have shown that the more freedom journalists have the greater the control over corruption, and the greater focus of resources on priority development issues.

Despite the crackdown on journalists, Niger improved its standing in several key indexes in 2007. In July 2007 it was praised by the World Bank for having reduced corruption and improved democracy.

In December 2007, Niger moved up four places in the annual United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index, which ranks countries according to progress on achieving development indicators like universal basic education, access to healthcare, life expectancy and literacy. Niger had held last place for several years.

Niger, a country the size of Western Europe divided between a desert north and semi-arid south, is among the five poorest countries in the world.

Communications, health and education infrastructure are non-existent in many areas and hundreds of thousands of people die every year, mostly from diseases and illnesses which could have been easily prevented with access to even rudimentary public services.

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