France Médias Monde, the parent company of RFI and France 24, deplores this announcement.
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The Malian junta ordered, on the night of Wednesday March 16 to Thursday March 17, the suspension of the broadcasting of RFI and France 24 in Mali because, according to it, of “false allegations” abuses committed by the Malian army and reported by the two French media, the government said in a statement. The Malian government “categorically rejects these false allegations against the valiant Fama” (Malian Armed Forces) and “undertakes a procedure (…) to suspend until further notice the broadcasting of RFI (…) and France 24”, specifies the press release signed by Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, government spokesman, and sent to AFP. The broadcasts of the two media continued Thursday morning, AFP noted.
— Presidency Mali (@PresidenceMali) March 17, 2022
Such a suspension of two major foreign news media has no recent precedent in Mali. RFI and France 24, which closely cover African news, are widely followed in Mali. The Malian government believes that “these false allegations” were reported in particular in a report of March 14 and 15, in which RFI gave the floor to presumed victims of abuses allegedly committed by the Malian army and the private Russian group Wagner. The junta “categorically rejects these allegations against the valiant Fama”specifies the press release of Colonel Maiga which “prohibits all national radio and television stations, as well as Malian news sites and newspapers, from rebroadcasting and/or publishing programs and press articles from RFI and France 24”. Colonel Maiga further believes that “the actions of RFI and France 24 resemble, in the recent past, the practices and the infamous role of the radio station ‘Mille Collines'”, who encouraged the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
France Médias Monde, the parent company of RFI and France 24, takes note and deplores this announcement: “France Médias Monde recalls its attachment to freedom of information and to the professional and balanced work of its teams of journalists.”