Burkina Faso Cracks Down on Foreign Media Amid Allegations of Army Killings
BURKINABE — In response to a report accusing its army of killing 223 civilians, Burkina Faso has taken drastic measures by suspending multiple foreign media outlets.
The report, conducted by US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), suggested that the massacre in February was carried out as retaliation against villagers who were believed to be aiding armed Islamists.
The military government of the West African nation has vehemently denied the allegations and has already suspended the BBC and US broadcaster Voice of America for their coverage of the HRW report.
Following a coup in 2022, Burkina Faso is now under military rule, with the promise of quelling the Islamist insurgency which has continued to escalate, resulting in over a third of the country being controlled by extremist groups.
Recently, Burkina Faso’s communications regulator announced the suspension of broadcasts from French network TV5Monde for two weeks and blocked access to its website, in addition to barring several other media outlets such as Deutsche Welle (DW), Le Monde, Ouest-France, the Guardian, APA, and Ecofin.
HRW’s report detailed the alleged killing of 179 individuals in Soro and 44 in Nondin, villages in the northern part of Burkina Faso, labeling it as the country’s “worst army abuse” in almost a decade.
Despite these accusations, Burkina Faso’s Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo strongly refuted the claims and criticized HRW for jumping to conclusions before the completion of a thorough investigation.
International organizations and human rights groups have also condemned Burkina Faso for alleged human rights violations in its fight against Islamists, including reports of indiscriminate killings and forced disappearances of civilians.
Amidst the crackdown on media coverage of the report, media outlets like the BBC and VOA have vowed to continue reporting on Burkina Faso in the interest of public awareness and accountability.
