The transitional government in Bamako has taken exception to the coverage by two French media of alleged atrocities on civilians blamed on the Malian army by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Relations between Paris and Bamako are becoming more and more strained.
After the expulsion of the French ambassador, the transitional authorities announced in a statement on Wednesday, March 16, that they had launched “a procedure, in accordance with the laws and regulations in force in Mali, to suspend, until further notice, the broadcasting of Radio France Internationale (RFI) on shortwave and FM and France 24 television, as well as all their digital platforms throughout the national territory.”
The Malian government blames these media outlets for “false allegations of abuses committed by the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) against civilians, violations of human rights and international humanitarian law”.
The human rights watchdog said in a report that, since last December, at least 107 civilians have been killed by members of the Malian military or rebels in central and southwest Mali.
The victims, the majority of whom were allegedly summarily executed, according to HWR, include traders, village chiefs, religious leaders and children.
“Fourteen ethnic Dogon civilians were allegedly summarily executed by soldiers,” apparently in retaliation for the death of two soldiers in the area by improvised explosive device (IED), HRW added.
Reaction of France Medias Monde
The Malian government denounces these “baseless allegations” published respectively, between March 8 and 15, 2022, through a statement by Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, a report by HRW and a report by RFI.
“Considering the timing of this media blitz, the government deduces a cleverly premeditated strategy aimed at destabilizing the transition, demoralizing the Malian people and discrediting the valiant FAMa,” said the statement signed by Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, government spokesman and Minister of Territorial Administration.
“Some of these allegations, particularly those made by RFI, have no other objective than to sow hatred by ethnicizing insecurity in Mali and reveal the criminal intent of journalists, some of whom did not even visit Mali more than a year ago,” the government statement added, before describing the “actions of RFI and France 24 (…) as practices and a sad role in the country’s history to the practices and the infamous role of the radio ‘Mille Collines’ in a tragic event in Africa,’ specifically in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide of the Tutsis.
In reaction to the Malian authorities’ statement, France Medias Monde, the parent company of the two French media, said it has taken “note of and deplored the decision by Mali.
While the broadcasts of the two media continued Thursday morning, the French media group” recalls its attachment to the freedom to inform and the professional and balanced work of its teams of journalists.
ODL/cgd/fss/as/APA