Burkina Faso Expels French Journalists, Suspends TV Network

Burkina Faso has expelled journalists working for the Le Monde and Liberation newspapers, the two French dailies said on Sunday April 2, 2023. Deutsche Welle reports that Le Monde Afrique correspondent Sophie Douce and Liberation correspondent Agnes Faivre were expelled from Burkina Faso on Saturday, according to the two newspapers, and arrived in Paris on Sunday morning.

In an earlier development the country's rulers suspected French network France 24. In March 2023, the network held an on-air discussion about an exclusive interview they conducted with the Algerian Abu Obeida Youssef al-Aanabi, the leader of the group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Wassim Nasr, the journalist who did the interview, told the Associated Press news agency that the TV station had decided not to broadcast it. He has since told Voice of America that the Burkinabe leadership has been looking for a reason to shut down the network as part of an ongoing effort to control the flow of information in the country.

Burkina Faso's Communication Minister Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo said that by interviewing the head of the Islamist group, France 24 was "not only acting as a mouthpiece for these terrorists but worse, it is providing a space for the legitimization of terrorist actions and hate speech". The goverment suspended the broadcaster.

France 24 slammed the government's accusations as outrageous and defamatory. "The management of France 24 condemns this decision and disputes the baseless accusations calling into question the channel's professionalism," the news station said.

In December 2022, Radio France Internationale (RFI) was also suspended on accusations of sending a "message of intimidation" attributed to a terrorist chief.

RFI and France 24 have also been suspended by neighbouring Mali, which is also under military rule.