The government authorities in Ivory Coast have arrested a French journalist working for the Reuters news agency, accusing her of spying for rebels in the west African state, official Ivory Coast radio said on Tuesday.
The RTI radio station said the reporter, Anne Bauer, had been detained on Monday in the western town of San Pedro and then taken to Abidjan, the country’s economic capital, some 300 kilometres to the east.
There was no immediate reaction to the report from Reuter’s office in Abidjan. The radio report described the journalist as ”a spy for the MPCI,” a reference to the main rebel group, the People’s Movement of Ivory Coast.
It said ”compromising documents” had been found in her possession. The MPCI, which has been seeking to overthrow Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo since an army rebellion broke out on September 19, controls the northern half of the country.
San Pedro is Ivory Coast’s second-biggest port after Abidjan. It is a conduit for the country’s biggest export crop, cocoa. Ivory Coast is a former French colony, and France has troops in the country seeking to keep apart the two sides. – Sapa-AFP