Burkina Faso suspends BBC and Voice of America

Burkina Faso has suspended the radio broadcasts of UK-funded BBC Africa and U.S.-funded Voice of America (VOA) over their coverage of a report accusing the country’s army of conducting mass executions.

According to authorities cited by media, broadcasts by the two outlets (BBC & VOA) have been taken off air and even their websites have been banned and shut down for at least two weeks.

In a report published on Thursday, Human Rights Watch (HRW), a U.S.-based group, has accused the country’s military forces of of “summarily executing” at least 223 civilians, including at least 56 children in two villages, in February. The HRW then called on authorities to investigate the massacres.

According to the report, the Burkinabe army has reportedly committed mass atrocities against civilians in the name of fighting terrorism. HRW also suggests that the “massacre” appeared to be part of a “widespread military campaign” against civilians accused of collaborating with armed groups, reports RT.

In response, the Burkina Faso communication council has claimed that HRW’s report contained “peremptory and tendentious” declarations against the army that are likely to create public disorder. It has now warned other media networks from reporting the HRW report on alleged mass killings by the army.

Both BBC and VOA have said they intend to continue covering events in the country.

Many say the two-weeks ban is likely a prelude to an all out ban that could kick in at the expiration of the two weeks. Similar bans have happened in Mali and Niger and it always starts with a few weeks ban and then it ends up becoming a permanent ban.

I do not hold brief for anyone committing crimes against civilians, but when American/UK-based and funded organizations are all over Africa dishing out negative reportage on governments that don’t align with their western idles and policies, it becomes really hard to believe anything they say.

I remember those days when then Nigeria President, Goodluck Jonathan was fighting Boko Haram and was beating them silly, it was one of these US-based organizations, either Transparency International or Human Rights Watch that came out with a report that Jonathan was bombing innocent civilians in the north and not Boko Haram. They even published Google earth map to show the extent of bombings in civilian neighborhoods. But we would later find out it was all a lie – Jonathan was really killing just the terrorists and not civilians. That’s what freaked them out!

I’ll never forget how Richard Quest of CNN, Christiane Amanpour, and all of the CNN bigwigs and BBC guys were all over the place, running around in Northern Nigeria like squirrels, just to prove that Jonathan was killing civilians rather than terrorists. All these were to scare the government from attacking terrorists and ensure the terrorists were protected. And they were!

The moment Jonathan left power and the terrorists became emboldened under Buhari, wreaking havoc everywhere in Nigeria, none of those pathetic terrorist sympathizers in the media has bothered with what civilians were going through in the hands of these sponsored terrorists. If they loved civilians so much, if it was all about the civilians and not terrorists, why didn’t they sustain the campaign under Buhari? Answer: It was never about the civilians. It has always been about protecting their terrorists.

So, you can’t blame Burkina Faso. They’re now aligned with Russia – the avowed enemy of the west/USA. How do you expect an American/UK-based organization to tell the truth or report on anything that’ll favor that government. As a matter of fact, these media organizations and NGOs operate as spies for their individual governments. Thats why their credibility – from HRW to BBC to VOA is already in the mud and pre-disqualifies them to point any accusing finger given their rich history of barefaced biases.

by Joseph Okechukwu