French state-media is to be blocked in Mali. This is occurring in the context of France’s withdrawal from the west African country, as announced by president Macron in February, following a decade of fighting partly sparked by Tuareg secessionists in 2012. Most recently, there were another two coups since August 2020, and Malian authorities have cancelled the elections originally scheduled for February 2022.
Mali’s military junta specifically accused RFI radio and France24 of spreading fake news concerning the murder of civilians. The allegations around murdered civilians were published by Human Rights Watch, and refer to 71 deaths for which the Malian army would be responsible since December 2021, with an additional 36 imputed on Islamist militias.
Authorities claimed the reports are “a premeditated strategy aimed at destabilising the political transition … to demoralise the Malian people and discredit the Malian army.”
It remains to be seen exactly when the French news outlets will be banned, and whether Mali will stabilise following the departure of French forces.
