Burkina Faso’s junta suspends VOA for comments about rebellion

Voice of America, a U.S.-funded station, has been banned from airing in Burkina Faso for three months because of comments it made about a jihadist insurgency in West Africa’s Sahel region. Local news outlets are also not allowed to use any foreign media reports for now, authorities said late Monday.

The military leaders who took over in the second coup of 2022 have become less tolerant of criticism as security worsens, even though they said they would put down an Islamist uprising.

The superior council for communication (CSC) said on September 19 that Voice of America (VOA) was making troops in Burkina Faso and neighboring Mali less motivated. The talk was also broadcast by a private local radio station.

It said the reporter called a terrorist attack on Bamako last month “courageous,” said bad things about security operations, and gave an incorrect death toll for an August attack on a town in Burkina Faso that killed hundreds.

“The CSC has suspended all synchronization of national media with international media until further notice,” it said in a statement.

VOA did not answer right away when asked for a response.

Since 2012, Islamist insurgencies tied to al-Qaeda and Islamic State have spread from neighboring Mali to several Sahel countries, killing thousands and forcing millions to leave their homes. Burkina Faso is one of these countries.

Since 2020, coups have happened in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger because people are angry that the government isn’t protecting residents.

In April, Burkina Faso shut down the radio stations of VOA, BBC Africa, and other foreign news organizations for two weeks because they talked about a Human Rights Watch report that said the army was killing people without a trial, which the army denies.

The CSC took away the radio bands of France’s well-known RFI radio station last month. RFI often reports from the Sahel. It did not give a reason for taking it down.