Burkina Faso’s government, led by the junta, has taken the decision to suspend a prominent radio station due to its airing of an interview that was deemed offensive towards Niger’s newly established military leadership.
The country witnessed two military coups in the past year, influenced by frustration over the inability to curb a raging jihadist insurgency, similar to Mali and Niger.
In response, Burkina Faso expressed support for Niger’s new leaders and issued a joint caution with Mali against any intervention to restore Bazoum, equating it to a declaration of war.
Recent months saw Burkinabe authorities take strong actions, suspending French TV channels LCI and France24, Radio France Internationale, and expelling correspondents from Liberation and Le Monde newspapers. These events highlighted the country’s dynamic political landscape, its diplomatic ties, and media censorship.
The radio station, Radio Omega, has garnered significant popularity. However, following the broadcast of an interview that was considered insulting to the leaders of Niger’s military, the Burkina Faso government took immediate action. Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo released a statement on Thursday, announcing the suspension of Radio Omega until further notice.
He said the measure was “in the higher interests of the nation.”
The station, part of the Omega media group owned by journalist and former Foreign Minister Alpha Barry, ceased broadcasting after the statement was issued late Thursday.
The channel had run an interview with Ousmane Abdoul Moumouni, the spokesperson of a newly established Nigerien group campaigning to return President Mohamed Bazoum to power.
The country’s elected leader was overthrown on July 26 by members of the Presidential Guard.
Moumouni made “insulting comments with regard to the new Nigerien authorities,” said Ouedraogo, who is also a government spokesperson.
His organization “is clearly campaigning for violence and war against the sovereign people of Niger” and seeks to restore Bazoum “by every means,” he charged.
Meanwhile, Radio Omega promised to revoke the suspension on Friday by “every means of recourse.”
The decision is a “blatant violation of current laws and an unacceptable attack on freedom of expression and freedom of the press,” it said.
The order, it added, came after “numerous death threats” had been made against the station’s managers and journalists “from people describing themselves as supporters of the government.”
The country’s leading journalists’ association, OPM, said it “strongly” condemned the station’s suspension and demanded its “immediate” lifting.
