Burkina Faso Suspends France 24 Broadcasts

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Facts

• Burkina Faso's government on Monday suspended state-funded France 24 broadcasts in the country after the TV channel aired an interview with Yezid Mebarek, the head of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), earlier this month.¹
• This comes as relations between Paris and Ouagadougou have collapsed since the military took over Burkina Faso last October, with the junta rescinding a military deal and giving France one month to withdraw its troops in January this year.²
• France 24, which has also been suspended in Mali for a year, relayed on March 6 written answers from the leader of the AQIM to some fifteen questions put by its journalist Wassim Nasr.³
• In the interview, Mebarek stated that the withdrawal of French troops from both Burkina Faso and Mali was a victory for his group. He also described the Russian private military Wagner Group as a colonial force in the region.⁴
• Radio France Internationale (RFI) has also been suspended in Burkina Faso since December on allegations that the media outlet had disseminated a 'message of intimidation' attributed to a 'terrorist chief.'⁵
• Jihadist insurgency linked to al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State group has unsettled the once-peaceful West African country of Burkina Faso for seven years, killing thousands and displacing around 2M people.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Al Jazeera, ³Africanews, ⁴Ft, ⁵Dw.com and ⁶Associated Press.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by RT. As if France's failure to help its former colonies fight jihadist insurgency wasn't enough, now its state-owned France 24 media outlet is unacceptably acting as the mouthpiece for dangerous terrorists, threatening Burkina Faso and its people by giving a platform to jihadist groups. Burkina Faso’s government had no choice but to suspend France 24 in order to maintain stability in the country.
• Narrative B, as provided by France 24. Burkina Faso’s government is making outrageous and defamatory remarks regarding France 24 and mischaracterizing the network’s broadcast of its interview with Abu Obeida Youssef al-Annabi. The country has a history of suppressing journalists and curbing press freedom, and it should not suspend channels without notice.