French public radio is notably accused of having relayed “false information” by evoking an attempted coup against Captain Ibrahim Traoré, head of state since last September.
the Burkina Faso ordered on Saturday “immediate suspension until further noticeof Radio France Internationale (RFI), accusing him in particular of having relayed a “bullying message“assigned to a”terrorist leader“, announced the spokesperson for the Burkinabè government.
At the start of the week, the Islam and Muslim Support Group (GSIM, affiliated with Al-Qaeda) had broadcast a video in which one of its leaders in Burkina Faso threatened to attack villages defended by Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), civilian auxiliaries of the army, which has just recruited 90,000 in three weeks to deal with the resurgence of jihadist attacks.
By having relayed this message, the French public radio “thus contributes to a desperate maneuver by terrorist groups to deter the thousands of Burkinabè mobilized for the defense of the Fatherland», Indicates a press release signed by the spokesperson, Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo.
Attempted coup, “false information” according to the regime
The government also criticizes RFI for having taken up in its press review on Friday “false information, indicating that: “The president of the transition, captain Ibrahim Traoré, assures that an attempted coup d’état has targeted his power”“.
The press release recalls that “on November 3, the government had already expressed its indignation at the tendentious attitude of the journalists of this media (RFI) and their propensity to discredit the struggle in which the people of Burkina Faso are engaged for more freedom and dignity“.
Burkina, the scene of two military coups in eight months and plagued by jihadist violence since 2015, is the second country in the region to ban RFI this year after Mali, also led by putschist soldiers and hit by the jihadists, in March.