The BBC has written to the government of Djibouti to demand why a reporting team was detained for 16 hours and then expelled without explanation.
The team, including the BBC’s Africa Security Correspondent Tomi Oladipo, was in Djibouti to prepare reports about next Friday’s election in which President Ismail Omar Guelleh is running for office again.
They had been granted media accreditation and advised by the Director of Communications that they had the necessary authorisation to proceed with their work, a BBC Africa statement said.
The team had interviewed both the Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf and leading opposition candidate Omar Elmi Khaireh when they were detained by plain-clothed security officials and questioned for eight hours, the statement added.
Having been held overnight, without means of communication, they were put on a plane out of the country on Saturday morning without any reason being given, it said.
