In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
*Press briefing*
The Executive Board of the Mauritanian Journalists’ Union met on Tuesday evening with the Minister of Culture, Arts, Communication and Relations with Parliament and Government Spokesperson, Dr El Houssein Ould Medou, in the ministry’s meeting room.
During the meeting, the President of the Mauritanian Journalists’ Union, Mr Ahmed Salem Sidi Abdallah, welcomed the minister’s reception of the new Board shortly after its election and the confidence placed in it by Mauritanian journalists at the Union’s fifth congress.
Ould Sidi Abdallah said that the new Board comprises experienced, competent and professional field journalists who are committed to working for the interests of Mauritanian journalists and defending their material and moral rights.
The Union President added that the new Board has a firm and strong resolve to address every challenge facing journalists. It is fully ready to cooperate with all relevant parties, particularly the ministry and everyone committed to the media sector in Mauritania.
He said that the new Board is open to partnerships and to resolving all difficulties through dialogue, cooperation and mutual understanding. He expressed the hope that this approach would prevail throughout its term and that it would not be driven to take another course.
President Ould Sidi Abdallah stressed the importance of rigorously enforcing legal provisions, particularly the Professional Journalist Act and its implementing provisions, in order to define who qualifies as a journalist and prevent non-journalists from practising the profession or impersonating journalists.
Ould Sidi Abdallah said that the Union and its new bodies recognise and welcome all positive steps taken for the press since President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani came to power. They call for further progress and faster implementation of the recommendations in the Press Reform Committee’s report, as well as the conclusions of the 2016 consultative meetings on the press.
The Union President called on the Government to give journalists continued attention and improve their material and moral conditions, while providing particular attention to certain groups, such as photographers and technicians.
The Minister of Culture, Arts, Communication and Relations with Parliament and Government Spokesperson, El Houssein Ould Medou, welcomed the President and the Executive Board. He congratulated them on the confidence placed in them by their fellow members of the Journalists’ Union and wished them success in their duties and in serving the national journalistic community.
The minister affirmed their full readiness to cooperate and provide every form of support and assistance to serve journalists and promote the country’s media. He called on the President and Executive Board members to recognise the great responsibility entrusted to them by their colleagues and to appreciate the Union’s value, its history, and the emblematic figures who placed their trust in it at its establishment.
He added that recent years have brought many gains and significant achievements for journalists, whether in developing and improving the legal framework, in their material and moral conditions, or in opening new prospects for the country’s experience of liberalising the audiovisual sector.
The minister discussed President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani’s initiative to establish a Press Reform Committee despite the circumstances of the COVID 19 pandemic, saying that this reflects his view of the sector’s importance and the priority he gives it.
He also discussed amendments to the law governing the High Authority for the Press and Audiovisual Media (HAPA), the expansion of its powers, the granting of journalist representation on its Council, and amendments to the two audiovisual laws.
The minister said that these gains and achievements do not mean there are no challenges: every gain or achievement brings new challenges and opens new prospects that must be pursued.
He said that over the past year they have worked to help the sector’s trade union and civil organisations overcome states of irregular legal standing, or even suspension, to which some had been subject. He listed organisations that held congresses or elections in recent months, such as the Shooting Federation, the Mauritanian Writers and Authors’ Union, the Popular Poets’ Union, and the Artists’ Union. He noted that the Journalists’ Union was the only organisation whose congress had been postponed, before it was held in the middle of last month.
The minister stressed the importance of enforcing legal provisions and ensuring the integrity of the journalistic sector, given their positive impact on the sector’s image and on guaranteeing the public’s right to credible and trustworthy information, as well as their role in strengthening the basis for the Journalists’ Union’s demands.
In closing, the minister reaffirmed their readiness to cooperate with and support the Union in everything that serves journalists, improves media practice, and strengthens the values of responsibility and professional ethics.
Several Executive Board members spoke during the meeting. They stressed the importance of using this favourable opportunity to secure tangible achievements for journalists through rigorous enforcement of legal provisions, removing non-journalists from the professional sector, and directing public support towards strengthening press organisations and increasing their chances of success.
At the end of the meeting, President Ahmed Salem Ould Sidi Abdallah handed the minister a petition setting out the Mauritanian Journalists’ Union’s demands, with a view to working towards their fulfilment.
Media Secretariat
