Authorities in Burkina Faso have suspended Deutsche Welle (DW) and several other international media outlets following their coverage of allegations of mass killings by the country’s military. The German public broadcaster has called for the immediate reversal of this decision.
Nadja Scholz, DW’s Managing Director of Programming, expressed strong opposition to the suspension, stating, “The blocking of dw.com and other media in Burkina Faso means the people there are being deprived of the important right to independent information.” She emphasized that DW’s coverage provides factual and balanced perspectives, urging regulatory authorities to lift the blockade swiftly.
The suspension was announced late Sunday by Burkina Faso’s regulatory authority, the Conseil Superieur de la Communication (CSC). Alongside DW, the CSC has suspended French newspaper Le Monde, broadcaster TV5 Monde, and British daily The Guardian. The “temporary suspension” comes in the wake of DW’s reporting on a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report detailing allegations of mass killings by Burkina Faso’s military.
The HRW report, which was covered by DW on April 25, alleged that soldiers in Burkina Faso, currently under a military junta, had massacred at least 223 civilians, including more than 50 children, in the villages of Nondin and Soro in the northern Yatenga province. The report, based on eyewitness accounts and survivor testimonies, detailed that the killings took place on February 25.
The move to suspend these media outlets has sparked concern over press freedom and the right to independent information in Burkina Faso. The suspension has been criticized for depriving the public of access to information in the African country.