First modification:
Following the decision to ban the broadcasting of RFI and France24, the Burkinabe authorities decide to expel two French journalists, Agnès Faivre and Sophie Douce, from the country. An “arbitrary and unjustified decision”, denounced the newspaper Libération for which Faivre works.
The space of France in the Sahel is drowning, still, a little more. After the expulsion of the French troops and the ban on the public media RFI and France 24 – the television channel was only suspended last week -, the Burkina Faso authorities have expelled this weekend the two correspondents for the world and Liberationthus leaving the area practically deserted of the old Gallic influence.
They are Agnès Faivre and Sophie Douce, expelled on Saturday afternoon after being summoned and questioned by the Ouagadougou authorities.
These expulsions occur after the publication by the newspaper Liberation of an investigation with a video showing children and adolescents executed in a barracks by at least one soldier.
An investigation that was not to the liking of the Burkinabe government, which denounced “manipulations for political purposes” and “a desire to discredit it.”
These attacks on the press take place in a country that has recently suffered two coups d’état and where violence linked to jihadis groups is on the rise.
Following in the footsteps of Mali, which did the same last year, the Burkinabe authorities are turning the tide in their alliances, placing their trust now in Russia.
Much of the country is under blockade, with no access for humanitarian aid organizations, and between the action of armed groups and military restrictions, it is increasingly difficult for Western personnel to work in the Sahel.
