Burkina Faso bans more foreign media over HRW report

Burkina Faso’s media regulator has suspended more international media outlets over their coverage of a report accusing the Burkinabè army of killing civilians.

The military government has now banned the French network TV-Cinq and the websites of Le Monde and the Guardian, as well as the German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle.

The suspension comes days after the Burkinabè authorities imposed a two-week ban on BBC and US public broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) for covering the same Human Rights Watch (HRW) report.

The Superior Council for Communication (CSC) said in a statement on Sunday that the coverage of the HRW report by the newly suspended outlets "constitutes disinformation likely to bring discredit to the Burkinabè army".

The media regulator also reiterated a warning to all media outlets against covering the report, threatening sanctions.

The report released last Thursday by the US-based group HRW accused the Burkinabè military of massacring at least 223 civilians in February in the north of the country.

Burkina Faso authorities rejected the HRW report as "baseless accusations" and said they had opened a legal inquiry to "establish the facts".