The African Editors Forum (TAEF) has condemned the troubling deterioration of press freedom by military authorities in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.
The President of TAEF, Churchill Otieno, on Sunday in a statement, said the forum observed a troubling resurgence and intensification of repression of the media in the three Sahel countries.
He said the military authorities in the aforementioned countries had effectively shut the media space, snuffed out freedom of expression and the press and had become increasingly hostile to journalists.
In particular, the forum urged the military authorities in Burkina Faso to free and allow the media to operate and ensure the safety of all journalists.
It also raised the alarm that several international media outlets, including BBC, VOA, RFI, TV5, Deutsche Welle, Radio Vatican, Le Monde and Libération, as well as local media such as Radio Omega and l’Evènement, had either been closed or suspended in Burkina Faso.
The statement reads in part: “Under the watch of President Traore, an aggressive nationwide campaign to silence critical journalism and freedom of expression,and kidnapping of journalists and human rights defenders had been reported.”
TAEF said it had become common for reporters covering protests in “these countries” to be threatened or subjected to violence.
It would be recalled that Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) following the creation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in response to ECOWAS suspending the three countries after the military takeovers which occurred in August, 2021, in Mali; September, 2022, in Burkina Faso; and July, 2023, in Niger.
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