French journalist shot dead in Ivory Coast - by Police

Abidjan - A French journalist working for Paris-based radio station Radio France Internationale (RFI) was shot dead by a police officer in the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan on Tuesday, the French embassy said.

The journalist was killed outside a police station in the centre of the city while awaiting the release of opposition party activists, who had been detained last week on suspicion of plotting assassination attempts.

"The security service of the French embassy confirms the death of Jean Helene after an argument with a police officer turned sour," said Francis Guenon, political adviser and spokesperson for the French embassy in Abidjan.

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Media freedom institutions in Africa on Friday condemned the killing of a French reporter in Ivory Coast, saying they were distressed by the increasingly dangerous working climate for journalists there.

"The deteriorating political climate in Cote d'Ivoire has, in recent weeks, engendered a sense of resentment and acrimony within the politically polarised media institutions in the country," a joint statement by the Media Institute for Southern Africa (Misa) and the Media Foundation of West Africa (MFWA) said.

"The MFWA is deeply distressed by the cold-blooded murder of Jean Helene, Cote d'Ivoire correspondent of the Paris-based Radio France Internationale."

Helene was shot in the head on Tuesday by a policeman while waiting in his car outside the police headquarters to interview detained opposition militants.

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