Asserting that it had broadcast an “intimidation message” attributed to a “terrorist leader,” Burkina Faso on Saturday ordered Radio France Internationale (RFI) to be “immediately suspended and until further notice.”
According to a statement made by the spokesman, Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, RFI “is thus contributing to a desperate maneuver by terrorist groups to dissuade the thousands of Burkinabè mobilized in defense of their country” by relaying this message.
In a video released by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM, an Al-Qaeda affiliate), one of its leaders in Burkina Faso threatened to attack villages guarded by Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland (VDP), civilian auxiliary forces of the army that have recently attracted 90,000 new recruits in just three weeks to deal with the rise in jihadist attacks.
The French public radio station RFI is also criticised by the government for including “misleading information” in its review of the week’s news on Friday, according to the government: “The president of the transition, Captain Ibrahim Traore, assures that an attempted coup d’état has targeted his power.”
According to the communiqué, on 3 November, the administration had already expressed its outrage at the tendentious attitude of journalists of this media (RFI) and their predisposition to undermine the battle the Burkinabe people are engaged in for more freedom and dignity.
“In view of the above, the government has decided to suspend Radio France Internationale’s broadcasting throughout the country until further notice,” he added.
The management of RFI issued a statement on Saturday night saying that it “truly regrets this decision and complains against the utterly false charges that bring into question the professionalism of its stations.”
“The decision to cut off RFI’s broadcasting service was taken without prior notice and without implementing the procedures laid down in the RFI broadcasting agreement drawn up by Burkina Faso’s Higher Council for Communication,” it said.
The France Médias Monde company, to which RFI belongs, was quoted as saying that it will “examine all routes to restore RFI’s transmission” and that it had “reiterated its unflinching commitment to the freedom to inform and the professional work of its journalists.”
The management of RFI claims that more than 40% of the population and more than 70% of opinion leaders in Burkina Faso listen to the radio station each week.
Late this afternoon, an AFP reporter in Ouagadougou noticed that the radio station was no longer audible.
However, the government “invited it to obey the norms and principles governing the media” and “reaffirmed to national and international opinion its commitment to press freedom and freedom of opinion.”
The government still “calls for respect for the laws and principles put down in this field in our country” and “reaffirms to national and world opinion its commitment to press freedom and freedom of thought” as well as “the public’s right to knowledge.”
After Mali, which was also ruled by military put schists and attacked by jihadists in March, Burkina is the second country in the area to ban RFI this year. Burkina has had two military coups in the past eight months and has been ravaged by jihadist violence since 2015.
Newton Ahmed Barry, a journalist and former head of the National Electoral Commission, remarked, “Nerves are frazzled, but stifling or prosecuting the press does not turn lies into facts” (CEN).
