OUAGADOUGO: The junta in Burkina Faso on Monday suspended France 24 news channel’s all broadcasts in the west African country after it interviewed the chief of Al-Qaeda North Africa.
Burkina Faso is fighting a jihadist insurgency that spilled over from the neighboring country Mali in 2015.
The junta spokesperson said that by opening its channel to the head of AQIM, France 24 not only acted as a communications agency for the terrorists but also offered legitimacy to terrorist activities and hate speech. He was referring to the outfit’s head Abu Ubaydah Yusuf al-Annabi.
Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo added that the government has decided to suspend the diffusion of France 24 programs on all national territories.
The broadcast was cut around 0900 GMT on Monday, AFP journalists witnessed.
Junta’s statement after interview
The junta’s statement said that the government is disheartened to see that the chief of a terrorist organization like AQIM and recognized as such by the whole international community, can take advantage of the editorial generosity of the broadcaster to talk at length on the channel’s airwaves.
The broadcaster hit back, branding the Burkina Faso government’s “outrageous and defamatory statement.”
It said that the management condemns this decision and disputes the baseless allegations calling into question the channel’s professionalism.
It stressed that the AQIM head’s interview had not been directly broadcast but used as an account to confirm that the outfit had taken hostage a French citizen who was released in Niger last week.
