Media regulator in Benin suspends main private newspaper

The media regulator in the West African country of Benin has suspended the main private newspaper Le Matinal for allegedly insulting President Boni Yayi.

The order by the high audiovisual and communications authority said the newspaper broke several sections of its code and stopped it from printing pending a hearing, the date of which has yet to be announced.

“The publication of the daily Le Matinal is suspended until a hearing of its director and the author of the incriminating articles by the high audivisual and communications authority,” said a document seen by Reuters.

The document referred to articles in which the government and president were cited. It was signed on Tuesday and the paper has not appeared since Wednesday. There was no immediate comment on Friday from the newspaper’s editor.

The order has been criticised by other newspapers and by opposition politicians in a country that has a largely free press and is credited as a pioneer of multi-party democracy in Africa.

Boni was elected in 2006 when late president Mathieu Kerekou stepped down and was re-elected in 2011. He is also due to step down next year under constitutional term limits when his second mandate ends.

One of the biggest issues in the campaign to succeed him will be reducing poverty and ensuring a fair distribution of the benefits of the cotton producer’s growth, which the IMF has forecast at 5.5 percent this year and in 2016.