Burkina Faso has extended its media crackdown by suspending four additional international news outlets for their coverage of a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report alleging civilian killings by the Burkinabè army.
The country’s media regulator, the Superior Council for Communication (CSC), has included Deutsche Welle, TV-Cinq (a French network), and the websites of Le Monde and the Guardian in its list of banned media.
This action follows a recent two-week ban on BBC and Voice of America (VOA) for reporting on the same HRW findings.
In a statement on Sunday, the CSC accused these newly suspended outlets of spreading “disinformation likely to bring discredit to the Burkinabè army” through their coverage of the HRW report.
The regulator reiterated its warning to all media against reporting on the HRW findings, threatening potential sanctions.
HRW’s report alleged that the Burkinabè military massacred at least 223 civilians in northern Burkina Faso in February.
The Burkinabè authorities, however, dismissed these accusations as baseless and announced a legal inquiry to investigate the claims.
