Foreign reporter murdered

last updated 8 January 2015

Abidjan, Ivory Coast

France has filed an angry protest with the Ivory Coast government over the murder of a French journalist by a local policeman. Jean Helene, a reporter for Radio France Internationale, was killed while waiting outside police headquarters in the capital, Abidjan, to interview a group of dissidents about to be released from prison. France, which has nearly 4,000 peacekeeping troops in the country, is suspected of favoring the rebels, and the presence of a French journalist reportedly irritated the police chief. According to press accounts, the chief ordered one of his men to “get rid of” Helene; the officer shot the Frenchman dead before being disarmed and arrested by fellow officers. President Jacques Chirac has called for “a full and immediate inquiry.”