According to the military government, the three-month suspension comes after a “malicious” report by the channel on April 25.
French television station LCI has been temporarily suspended by Burkina Faso’s media watchdog, the Superior Communication Council (CSC), for allegedly disseminating incorrect information about jihadist atrocities.
In a statement released by local media on Thursday, the CSC denounced the TF1 group channel for alleged comments made by journalist Abnousse Shalmani.
Shalmani allegedly said in an April broadcast that jihadists were “advancing rapidly” and that state troops were using local defense force volunteers as shields to defend themselves from the attack.
According to the CSC, a journalist stated, “without mentioning a source, that 40% of the territory is occupied by ‘jihadists’ or that nearly 90,000 civilians called Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) are used as cannon fodder to protect the Burkinabè soldiers against terrorists.”
The regulator called the allegations “simple speculations and malicious insinuations” that are “likely to create unrest within the populations and to weaken the necessary collaboration sought between the army and the civilians.”
After indefinitely suspending France 24 and Radio France International, the military junta in Burkina Faso removed journalists from the French publications Le Monde and Liberation in April.
The French media were charged of spreading misleading information and giving armed groups a platform to justify terrorist activities.
The nation of West Africa has spent almost ten years mired in a cycle of Islamist insurgencies. According to estimates from non-governmental organizations, more than 10,000 civilians and military personnel have perished. According to a recent report by the UN’s humanitarian organization, terrorism has significantly increased in Burkina Faso, with fatalities rising by 50% in 2022.
Following a severe deterioration in ties, France withdrew 400 troops from Burkina Faso earlier this year, halting its military operations in Ouagadougou.
The Sahel nation, which has been under military control since the military overthrew the government in a coup in October, ordered France, its former colonial power, one month to withdraw its forces that collaborate with state troops to combat armed groups there.
