The government-controlled National Communication Council allowed the private newspaper L'Autre Journal to resume publishing in July, according to the state-owned daily L'Union. No official reason was given, a local journalist told CPJ. The decision came two and a half years after L'Autre Journal was banned for articles that might "disturb public order," amid a broad crackdown on the media. The newspaper appears intermittently and had published only two editions before it was forced to close.

The state-controlled National Council on Communications banned the private weekly Les Echos du Nord for three months in September over an editorial that criticized the government's handling of a territorial dispute with Equatorial Guinea, according to local and international media. The article also suggested that there was fighting within the government in anticipation of the end of Gabonese President Omar Bongo's rule, and that the strife was indicative of a dying regime. The director of the paper, Désiré Ename, went on a hunger strike to protest the ruling.

Norbert Mezui, editor of the private Libreville-based weekly Nku'u Le Messager, was jailed on October 18 and forced to serve a 21-day sentence for defamation. His sentence was suddenly implemented three years after it was handed down and despite a pending appeal. The defamation charges stemmed from a 2003 article alleging mismanagement of state treasury funds.

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