Burkina Faso expels correspondents from “Le Monde” and “Liberation”, after suspending France 24

This is a new sign of the deterioration of press freedom and relations with France. The military junta in power in Burkina Faso expelled, on Saturday evening April 1, the correspondents of two major French dailies. Sophie Sweet from World and Agnes Faivre of Release arrived Sunday morning in Paris. Their expulsions came five days after the suspension of the France 24 television channel and four months after that of Radio France Internationale (RFI).

The two journalists had been summoned to Ouagadougou on Friday by national security and were then ordered to leave Burkina Faso within 24 hours. These evictions come a few days after the publication, by Releaseon March 27, of an investigation into “a video showing children and adolescents executed in a military barracks, by at least one soldier” in the north of the country. This survey “obviously had greatly displeased the junta in power in Burkina Faso”, underlines the daily. The Burkinabè authorities had made no statement on the subject on Sunday morning.

“Freedom of the press in Burkina under serious threat”

The world And Release announced on Sunday morning the expulsion of their journalists by denouncing a measure “unacceptable” And “arbitrary”. This expulsion confirms, according to Release, “that the freedom of the press in Burkina Faso is seriously threatened”. According to the daily, “Agnès Faivre and Sophie Douce are journalists of perfect integrity, who worked in Burkina Faso in complete legality, with valid visas and accreditations issued by the Burkinabè government”.

The world, For its part, “condemns in the strongest terms this arbitrary decision”pointing out that “Sophie Douce, like her colleague, works for The World Africa independent journalism, free from any pressure”. The newspaper’s director, Jérôme Fenoglio, “asks the local authorities to reverse these decisions as quickly as possible and to immediately restore the conditions for independent information in the country”.

Only French media have so far been sanctioned by the Burkinabè authorities. Since Captain Ibrahim Traoré took power on September 30, 2022, the second coup in eight months in Burkina, relations with Paris have deteriorated. Ouagadougou demanded and obtained the departure of the French ambassador and the 400 French special forces soldiers based in the country. In early March, Burkina also denounced a military assistance agreement signed in 1961 with France.