The Malian junta on Thursday ordered the suspension of the broadcasting of RFI and France 24, after the dissemination by these French media of information according to which the Malian army is involved in abuses against civilians. In a press release dated Wednesday and published Thursday morning, government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga “categorically rejects these false allegations against the valiant FAMa”, the Malian armed forces. The government “undertakes a procedure (…) to suspend until further notice the broadcasting of RFI (…) and France 24”, announces the press release.
France Médias Monde “strongly protests against the unfounded accusations”
Thursday at midday, RFI had ceased its broadcasts, but France 24 continued to broadcast, according to AFP correspondents. In a press release, the French public company France Médias Monde, parent company of RFI and France 24, “deplores” the Malian decision and “strongly protests against the unfounded accusations”. The French company affirms that it “will study all avenues of appeal so that such a decision is not implemented”.
For her part, a spokesperson for European Union diplomacy, Nabila Massrali, deemed Bamako’s decision “unacceptable” and based on “unfounded accusations”. In addition, the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned “firmly” the suspension of the two French media, which, according to it, will only “reinforce the ostracization of the country”.
Paris denounces this suspension and points to “allegations of abuse”
France on Thursday denounced “serious attacks on freedom of the press” in Mali where the ruling junta ordered the suspension of the broadcasting of French media RFI and France 24 and pointed to “serious allegations of abuse” in the center from the country. “She expresses her concern at the serious allegations of abuses that have allegedly been committed in the center of the country, which have been independently documented, and which cannot be ignored,” noted the spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Affairs in reference to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
An unprecedented suspension in Mali
Such a suspension of two major foreign news media has no precedent for years in Mali, plunged since 2012 into a serious security and political crisis. RFI and France 24, which closely cover African news, are widely followed in Mali and throughout French-speaking Africa. According to France Média Monde, the two media are “followed each week by more than a third of the population” of Mali.
The Malian junta has signaled in recent months its intention to exercise tighter control over foreign media. On February 8, Bamako had expelled a special correspondent from the French media “Jeune Afrique” a few hours after his arrival in Bamako. To justify its decision on Thursday, the Malian government refers to a report broadcast on March 14 and 15 by RFI, in which the radio gave the floor to alleged victims of abuses allegedly committed by the Malian army and the group Russian private security company Wagner.
Mali at the center of international attention
The statement also quotes a statement by Michèle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on March 8, denouncing “violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law” in Mali. Mali also deplores a report by the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) published on March 15 which denounced a “wave of executions of civilians” and looting by the Malian army and jihadists in the center and south. -western Mali. This report reported “at least 107 civilian deaths” since December.
According to HRW, these abuses were allegedly committed by the FAMa in retaliation for military losses inflicted by jihadist groups in various incidents. The Malian army, of which hundreds of members of the security forces have been killed in Mali since the start of the unrest in 2012, is regularly accused of abuses.
The junta systematically rejects any accusation
The junta that came to power by force in 2020 systematically rejects the recurring accusations of abuse or reprisals by the army and repeats that the FAMa “respect human rights”. In his statement, Colonel Maïga adds that the government “prohibits” the Malian media “the rebroadcast and/or publication of programs and press articles from RFI and France 24” from “the entry into force of the measure suspension”. The Malian media abundantly pass on the information of these media.
Colonel Maïga believes that “the actions of RFI and France 24” resemble “the practices and the infamous role of the radio station ‘Mille Collines'”, which had encouraged the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Mali, a poor and landlocked country in heart of the Sahel, was the scene of two military coups in August 2020 and May 2021. The ruling military junta has reneged on its commitment to organize quick elections for the return of civilians to power and is claiming its sovereignty since the Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed heavy economic and diplomatic sanctions on Mali on 9 January.