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Burkina Faso Suspends BBC, VOA Over Military Abuses Report
Burkina Faso’s media regulator, the Superior Council for Communication (CSC), Friday, April 26, 2024 imposed a two-week suspension on the broadcasting of BBC Afrique and Voice of America (VOA) programs. The suspension follows the outlets’ airing of a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report accusing the Burkinabè army of human rights abuses against civilians.
The suspension extends to the websites and digital platforms of BBC, VOA, and HRW, which are all inaccessible within Burkina Faso. According to the state-owned news agency Agence d’Information du Burkina (AIB), the media outlets were instructed to cease rebroadcasting the report on all platforms.
The CSC has also warned local media outlets against disseminating the HRW report, threatening penalties for non-compliance. VOA, in a published statement, defended its reporting and vowed to continue its coverage of Burkina Faso.
The HRW report, published on Thursday, alleges that the Burkinabè military executed at least 223 civilians in the northern part of the country on February 25th. This incident comes amidst ongoing violence in the region.
This is not the first time Burkina Faso has suspended international media outlets. In December 2023, French daily Le Monde was suspended for alleged biased reporting. Last year, the country also imposed temporary suspensions on French-language magazine Jeune Afrique, French TV channel La Chaîne Info (LCI), and French state-owned media organization France24.
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