BANJUL, July 21, 2008 (AFP) - Gambian authorities charged the managing editor of a newspaper with sedition, a press union official said Monday, the second journalist to face the charge in the west African country in two months.

Abdulhamid Adiamoh, editor of the newspaper Today, 'has been, today, charged with seditious intention,' press union spokesman Buya Jammeh told AFP.

Police in The Gambia would not confirm the report.

Last Thursday Adiamoh was called in for questioning by the Banjul police because of an article published in his independent newspaper about the problems faced by youths in the country.

The Gambia, a former British colony, surrounded by Senegal on three sides, is often criticized for placing restrictions on the press and limiting freedom of expression.

Last month a former editor-in-chief of the pro-government Daily Observer was also charged with sedition, or resistance to lawful authority.

In December 2004, AFP correspondent Deyda Hydara, also the director of Gambian daily The Point, was shot and killed. His assailants were never found.