Mali suspends French channel LCI for two months

authorities Mali According to them, the decision to suspend the French news channel LCI for two months was made after one of its consultants made “false accusations” against the Malian army and its Russian allies. « LCI TV Service yes Removed from the bouquets of all authorized distributors of sound or television broadcasting services in Mali for a period of two months, starting from August 23, 2024”. communicate (HAC) Mali.

“Liberal claims and false accusations”

The Malian military junta broke its old alliance with France and its European partners in 2022 and turned to Moscow militarily and politically. Since then, the Malian colonel has suspended media French-language France 24 and Radio France Internationale (RFI) are very popular. France 2 will also stop broadcasting in early 2024. Some foreign media journalists have been forced to leave, go into exile or remain silent due to inappropriate behavior. of Be able to work.

According to HAC, LCI, a private serial news channel of the TF1 Group, aired a program on July 27 titled “Wagner tragically murdered in Mali: at the hands of Kiev”, with Colonel Michel Goya as a guest. consultant LCI military. HAC criticized Colonel Goya for making “abusive statements, unfounded assertions and false accusations against the Malian armed forces and their Russian partners.” She added that the guest return The so-called “openly supporting terrorism under the pretext of supporting Ukraine against Russia.”

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At the end of July, the Malian army and its allies Russian paramilitary organization Wagnerwas defeated in the battle of Separatists and jihadists in the north of the country. A Ukrainian military intelligence officer, Andrei Yusofsuggesting that Kiev had provided information to the rebels so that they could launch attacks. WHO This subsequently led to a breakdown in diplomatic relations between Mali and Ukraine.

In Mali’s neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, soldiers also seized power by force in 2022 and 2023. wait Measures have been taken against foreign media. In Burkina Faso, LCI was suspended in June 2023 after a journalist made comments about the situation related to jihadist violence, which were described as “Wrong information”.

(AFP report)