Resulting, like the new Nigerien government, from a coup d’etat, the management team of Burkina Faso has chosen to suspend, until further notice, Radio Oméga, one of the most appreciated and listened to in the country. . In question ? The broadcast of an interview with an opponent of the new Nigerian power perceived as offensive.
The government “takes full responsibility for the decision to suspend from this Thursday, August 10 and until further notice, the broadcasting of Radio Oméga programs in the name of the best interests of the Nation”, indicates the Minister of Communication, Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo in a press release.
This decision follows the broadcast on Radio Oméga of an interview, during the program L’Invité de la drafting, with the spokesman of a movement recently created in Niger which wishes to restore President Mohamed Bazoum, overthrown by a coup on July 26.
Radio Omega, a subsidiary of the Omega Media group which also has a television channel, owned by journalist and former Foreign Minister Alpha Barry, stopped broadcasting after the press release was broadcast, AFP noted.
She denounced Friday an “unfair and unfounded decision”, and will “use all avenues of appeal”. She considers that this suspension “without notice and without prior notification of the structure in charge of media regulation is a flagrant violation of the laws in force and an unacceptable attack on freedom of expression and freedom of the press”.
The radio also claims that his suspension comes after “numerous death threats against Radio Oméga leaders and journalists from people presenting themselves as supporters of the government and who insistently call for the suspension of [his] programs”.
In the interview incriminated by the government, Ousmane Abdoul Moumouni, a supporter of Bazoum, would have made “insulting remarks against the new Nigerien authorities”, according to Mr. Ouédraogo.
According to the Burkinabé government, Ousmane Abdoul Moumouni’s organization “clearly militates for violence and war against the sovereign people of Niger” and the will of his movement is to put President Bazoum back in power by “all means”. The Professional Media Organization (OPM), a strong association in the country and which represents all professions in the information sector, “firmly” condemned the suspension of Radio Omega and “demanded” its “immediate lifting”.
In its first reaction since the decisions by the military regime to suspend RFI, France 24, LCI and to expel the correspondents of Le Monde and Liberation, the structure affirms that “the government contributes to endangering the right of the public to information” and “violates the Constitution of Burkina Faso”. The transitional authorities of Burkina Faso, who came to power by a coup in September 2022, very quickly showed their solidarity with the soldiers who took power in Niger.
