Several copies of the weekly Le Nouveau Réveil newspaper were seized on March 4 from the newsstands and destroyed by two unidentified persons in Cocody and Yopougon, two suburbs of Abidjan, capital of Côte d'Ivoire, according to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).
MFWA's correspondent reported that the publishers of Le Nouveau Réveil have since lodged a formal complaint to the Ivorian authorities.
Although the assailants did not specify reasons for their actions, the correspondent said the incident followed a report published in the February 28 edition of the newspaper. The article linked certain top officials, including the director-general of Côte d'Ivoire's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ATCI), Kla Sylvanus, the wife of President Gbagbo, Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, and her daughter to acts of corruption.
Kla Sylvanus has since denied the allegations by Le Nouveil Réveil.
