Algeria: Paris-based Jeune Afrique Magazine banned

Paris-based and Africa-oriented media Jeune Afrique (JA) has roasted Algerian authorities after local authorities imposed a partial ban on its publications over alleged economy challenges.

JA last week issued a statement over the ban, which it said has been unilateral.

“Since April 23, our magazine has been absent from the kiosks in Algeria,” the statement said.

“The absence is not our choice, but a decision that was imposed on us by the Algerian government,”

The media reports that authorities have since established imported copies of the media’s publications at 350. It also noted that it was informed by an anonymous source from the ministry of communication who indicated that the move is part of government’s import-cost cut strategy plan.

The source reportedly announced that the ban could be turned at any time if things improve.

The oil-rich North African country has seen its revenues plummeted due to the sharp fall of oil price.

The ban has also hit several other major international media including Le Monde, Le Figaro, Afrique Magazine, Paris Match, L’Equipe or Le Canard Enchaîné. Yet, these publications are still available in the country, JA stressed.

Algiers has been classified as a notorious state in clampdown on media critical of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s regime.

Algeria ranks 136 out of 180 on Reporters without Borders’s 2018 press freedoms index.