RSF meets with Gabon's President in Libreville and shares recommendations to promote press freedom

"You are free," President Nguema insisted to the Gabonese journalists present during the meeting with the RSF delegation visiting Libreville on 9 September. Then, he reminded them of the need for professionalism: "the eye that has seen does not lie."

Five months after President Nguema's election, RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin and the director of RSF Sub-Saharan Africa, Sadibou Marong, presented him with the NGO's recommendations for fully guaranteeing the free exercise of journalism.

Gabon's ranking in the RSF World Press Freedom Index has climbed 80 places in five years. When President Nguema came to power in August 2023, he announced his intention to help the press "do its job" and "do it well." Since then, conditions for journalists have continued improving and several exiled journalists have been able to return to the country. However, certain obstacles remain. Journalists are still being summoned by security and intelligence forces - at least four have been called in for questioning since the beginning of the year - and access to official sources is difficult. The regulatory authority, the High Authority for Communication (HAC), lacks resources, the communication code contains vague articles, and financial support for the media is weak.

The recommendations presented by RSF to the Gabonese president and government include:

• send a notice to judges and security services reminding them that only the Communication Code should be applied to press offences, not the Criminal Code;
• revise certain articles of the Communication Code that are currently open to broad interpretation, which could muzzle the press;
• increase the budget of the High Authority for Communication (HAC);
• maintain transparency regarding direct and indirect public aid (state advertising, legal notices) and its allocation, with the goal of proposing its reviewal by the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) and supplementing it with other measures (e.g. a reduced tax regime for the media).

The meeting was attended by Gabon's Minister of Communication and Media, Paul-Marie Gondjout, and the Minister of Justice, Séraphin Akure-Davain. Members of the press freedom movement - including Désiré Ename, president of the local branch of the International Union of the Francophone Press (UPF), Alphonse Ongouo, the publisher of newspapers La Loupeand L'Aubeand the news website Gabon Clic, and Yves-Laurent Goma, the director of the news website Gabonactu.com-, took part alongside the Director General of Gabon Télévision, Jean Robert El Mut Moutchinga Boulingui, and his deputy, Gabin Atiga. Laetitia Ngalibika, Managing Director of Gabon 24, and Lin-Joël Ndembet, editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper L'Union, were also present.

Meeting media representatives

While in Libreville, the RSF delegation also met with Germain Ngoyo Moussavou, President of the HAC, the media regulatory body. According to him, the country has 193 newspapers, 77 radio stations, 42 television stations and 179 online media outlets. "The regulatory body favours a pedagogic approach with the media, which has led us to refrain from imposing suspensions for some time now," said the HAC president, whose method of appointing the nine members is considered to be problematicfor media independence by the country's journalism sector. "This meeting provided an opportunity to discuss crucial issues such as the need to reintegrate journalists into the process of appointing HAC members," said Thibault Bruttin.

The delegation also visited the offices of the private media outlets Gabon Media Time (GMT), Gabonreviewand Gabon Actu.

Gabon ranks 41st out of 180 countries and territories in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.