More sound, more images. France “condemns” this Thursday “very firmly” the suspension of the broadcasting of the media France 24 and RFI in Niger, where a coup d’etat overthrew the elected president Mohamed Bazoum. Radio France internationale (RFI) and the France 24 channel have been inaccessible since Thursday afternoon, AFP journalists in Niamey noted.
The signals of the RFI FM station and France 24 were cut “on instructions from the new military authorities”, a senior Nigerian official told AFP. “In Niger, the measures taken against the press are part of a context of authoritarian repression led by the authors of the attempted coup”, denounces the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its press release.
“Serious violations of fundamental freedoms”, castigates the Quai d’Orsay
“After having taken hostage the elected president of the Republic of Niger, they are engaged in a campaign of arbitrary arrests against democratic representatives”, affirms the Quai d’Orsay in this press release, adding: “France condemns these serious violations fundamental freedoms”.
The France Médias Monde group denounced this Thursday in a press release the interruption of RFI and France 24, “a decision taken outside any conventional and legal framework” a week after the coup. The authorities’ decision “deprives citizens in the region a little more of their access to free, independent and verified information”, regrets the public group, which has already “undergone censorship in Mali and Burkina Faso in recent months”. .
RFI and France 24 remain accessible via direct satellite reception, on the Internet, and RFI programs in French, Hausa and Fulfude continue to be broadcast on shortwave. Since the July 26 coup which overthrew the elected president Mohamed Bazoum, sequestered for eight days, relations with Paris have deteriorated. Incidents on Sunday during a demonstration in front of the French Embassy led to the evacuation of more than 500 French people.