Congo expels Reuters journalist Rolley

French journalist Sonia Rolley, who was forced to leave Chad on March 18, 2008 after the government withdrew her work permit, poses in Paris on March 26, 2008. Rolley, 27, who reported for Agence France-Presse and other international news organisations, was told last month that she could no longer report from Ndjamena after a state of emergency was imposed on February 2. The government has not given reasons for her expulsion. AFP PHOTO THOMAS COEX (Photo by THOMAS COEX / AFP)

Sonia Rolley

Democratic Republic of Congo expelled a French journalist working for Reuters after her application for journalistic accreditation was not approved.

Bate Felix of Reuters writes, “Sonia Rolley applied in September for accreditation to take up an assignment coordinating Reuters news coverage in Congo. She was granted permission to cover a climate conference in the capital, Kinshasa, in October while she waited for the application to be processed.

“On Tuesday, she received a written summons to present herself to immigration police in Kinshasa, who she said confiscated her passport and put her on a flight to Paris via Addis Ababa. No reason for the decision was provided to Rolley, she said.

“The police communications department referred Reuters to the Interior Ministry. Reuters was unable to reach the Interior Ministry spokesman late on Tuesday, and calls to officials at the Ministry of Communications and Media went unanswered.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.