Editor TLN
2 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The correspondents for ‘Le Monde’ and ‘Libération’ in Burkina Faso, Sophie Douce and Agnes Faivre, have been expelled from the African country in the midst of an investigation that denounces the death of children at the hands of Army soldiers at a military base.
The two journalists were summoned on Friday afternoon by the Burkina Faso State Security Directorate and intelligence services and questioned about their travels, their work in the country and precisely because of this investigation, included in an article in ‘Libération ‘ posted last Monday.
“Based on biased interpretations, inaccurate reasoning and dubious simulations, journalists from this medium accuse Burkinabé soldiers of attacking children in a military barracks,” the Government of Burkina Faso has published on the investigation carried out by Faivre, in a statement quoted by ‘Libération’.
The facts published by the newspaper were verified thanks to a video that the authorities have described as “being manipulated” to “deteriorate the image of a country of honest men”, and have accused the journalist of “not having knowledge” of reality on the ground where terrorism is fought.
For her part, the correspondent for ‘Le Monde’ finally received her notice of verbal expulsion this past Saturday through agents in plain clothes. The newspaper denounces that it has not received any official written document or any reason for the expulsion of the reporter beyond the fact that “the decision comes from the authorities,” according to what the agents told it.
The military junta of Burkina Faso already announced last Monday the suspension of the broadcasts of the France 24 television network throughout the territory after the publication of an interview with the leader of the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Abu Ubaidá Yousef al-Anabi.
