the correspondents of Le Monde and Liberation expelled

The correspondents of the French dailies Le Monde and Liberation in Burkina Faso were expelled from this country on Saturday 1is April evening, their editorial staff announced on Sunday, denouncing an “unacceptable” and “arbitrary” measure.

The two journalists arrived “Sunday morning in Paris”, said Liberation.

“Our correspondent in Burkina Faso, Sophie Douce, has just been expelled from the country (…) at the same time as his colleague from Liberation, Agnès Faivre”, indicates Le Monde on its site. “The sanction has fallen and, with it, the confirmation that the freedom of the press in Burkina Faso is heavily threatened”, writes for its part Liberation.

Le Monde “condemns in the strongest terms this arbitrary decision which forced the two journalists to leave Ouagadougou in less than twenty-four hours”. “Sophie Douce, like her colleague, exercises independent journalism for Le Monde Afrique, free from any pressure,” adds the daily.

The newspaper’s director, Jérôme Fenoglio, “asks the local authorities to reverse these decisions as quickly as possible and to immediately restore the conditions for independent information in the country”.

According to Liberation, “Agnès Faivre and Sophie Douce are journalists of perfect integrity, who worked in Burkina Faso completely legally, with valid visas and accreditations issued by the Burkinabè government”.

“We vigorously protest against these absolutely unjustified expulsions and the ban on our journalists working independently,” the newspaper added.

“After a Liberation investigation”

The two journalists had been summoned to Ouagadougou on Friday by national security and were then ordered to leave Burkina Faso within 24 hours.

Liberation specifies “that the publication on March 27 of the Liberation investigation into the circumstances in which a video was filmed showing children and teenagers executed in a military barracksby at least one soldier, had obviously greatly displeased the junta in power in Burkina Faso”.

“The government strongly condemns these manipulations disguised as journalism to tarnish the image of the ‘country of honest men'”, wrote the spokesperson for the Burkinabè government, Jean-Emmanuel Ouédraogo, after the publication of this investigation, assuring that the army acts “in strict compliance with international humanitarian law”.

On Monday, Burkina Faso, ruled by authorities from two coups in 2022 and facing an increase in deadly attacks, cut off the broadcast of the French news channel France 24 on its territory.

At the beginning of December, the ruling junta had already suspended the broadcasting of Radio France Internationale (RFI), from the same group as France 24, France Médias Monde.

With AFP

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.