After Mali, Burkina Faso cuts access to RFI

RFI radio has been suspended by the authorities of Burkina Faso, who accuse it of having broadcast misleading information likely to destabilize the country.

Radio France Internationale, better known as RFI, will no longer broadcast in Burkina Faso. Last Saturday, the power of Captain Ibrahim Traoré announced "the immediate suspension and until further notice" of the radio. Burkina Faso is the second country to suspend RFI. Last March, Malian Minister of the Interior Abdoulaye Maïga had indeed announced that the suspensions of two French media, France 24 and RFI, following “false allegations”.

This time, two interventions are problematic. The Burkinabè government believes that RFI did not have to relay the "message of intimidation" from a "terrorist leader". More specifically, it is the dissemination of extracts from a video of one of the leaders of the GSIM (Support Group for Islam and Muslims) who threatened to attack villages defended by Defense Volunteers of the fatherland (VDP).

The radio, explains the government spokesperson, “thus contributes to a desperate maneuver by terrorist groups to dissuade the thousands of Burkinabè mobilized for the defense of the Fatherland”.

Another reproach made to RFI: having relayed "false information, indicating that 'the president of the transition, captain Ibrahim Traoré, assures that an attempted coup d'état targeted his power'". The article is still online. This displeased the government which indicated, still in its press release, 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”.

For its part, the management of RFI "strongly deplores this decision and protests against the totally unfounded accusations calling into question the professionalism of its antennas". It provides legal remedies to be heard again by "more than 40% of the population and more than 70% of opinion leaders" in Burkina Faso.

But is this a threat to freedom of expression? The government indicates that it wishes “to reaffirm to national and international opinion its attachment to freedom of the press and opinion” and “to the public's right to information”. However, he asks for “respect for the rules and principles enacted in this area in our country”.