Niger Coup: Burkina Faso Junta Suspends Radio Station

Last updated Aug 13, 2023

Burkina Faso’s junta-led government has halted one of the country’s most popular radio stations after it aired an interview that was deemed “insulting” to Niger’s new military officials.

Radio Omega was immediately suspended on Thursday until further notice, Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo added in a statement.
He said the measure was “in the higher interests of the nation.”
The station, part of the Omega media group owned by journalist and former Foreign minister Alpha Barry, ceased broadcasting after the statement was issued late Thursday. The channel had run an interview with Ousmane Abdoul Moumouni, the spokesperson of a newly established Nigerien group campaigning to return President Mohamed Bazoum to power.

The country’s elected leader was overthrown on July 26 by members of the Presidential Guard. Moumouni made “insulting comments about the new Nigerien authorities,” said Ouedraogo, who is also a government spokesperson.

The Radio station on Friday said it would fight the suspension.
The decision is a “blatant violation of current laws and an unacceptable attack on freedom of expression and freedom of the press,” it said.

Africanews/Patience A.