from mali military government ordered from French broadcasters RFI and France 24 off the air complaining of having falsely accused the army of commit abuse, he said in a statement issued on Thusday.
the government in Bamako “categorically rejects these false accusations against the brave FAMA (Malian Armed Forces),” said spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga.
the military “undertakes a procedure (…) to suspend the broadcasts of RFI and France 24 (…) until further notice”, he declared. in statement dated Wednesday.
The European Union castigated out to the ban, calling it “unacceptable” and declaring the accusations on on which it was based were “without foundation”.
“By attacking freedom of the press, the freedom to inform and to be informed, the junta continues and confirms that it is moving forward no matter what,” policy said spokeswoman Nabila Massrali in Brussels.
RFI and France 24 were still broadcasting on Thursday morning in the conflict-torn Sahelian nation.
There is no recent precedent in mali for foreign major news media to take off the air.
RFI (Radio France Internationale) and France 24 cover Africa news abundantly and have a strong audience in the former French colony.
France Media World, the parent business of RFI and France 24, said on Thursday that he “deplores” decision take your diffusers off the air.
‘False accusations’
the military who seized power in August 2020, said there had been “false accusations” in an early report in the week in where RFI broadcast statements by alleged victims of abuse by military and russian shadow private-Security group Wagner.
Maïga says Malian news websites, newspapers and its national radio and television stations have all been “prohibited from retransmitting and/or publishing programs and news articles to put out by RFI and France 24.”
He compared French broadcasters to Rwanda’s Radio Mille Collines – a notorious medium that incited listeners to exterminate the Tutsi minority during the 1994 genocide.
“Certain allegations, in particular those put forward by RFI, have no other objective than to sow hatred,” he said, adding that this demonstrated the “criminal intention” of some journalists.
from mali military also accused Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Michelle Bachelet, the UN human rights chief, of manufacturing false allegations against the government.
