Permanent extinguishing of the lights?

RFI and France 24, banned from broadcasting in Mali since March 17, have been permanently suspended in the country, the group France Médias Monde, parent company of two media, announced on Wednesday in a press release.

The sign of an escalation of tensions between Paris and Bamako

France Médias Monde (FMM), parent company of RFI and France 24, reacted in a press release, "strongly contesting such a measure" and promising to use "all other possible remedies".

The group told AFP that it had received notification of this decision from Mali's High Authority for Communication on Wednesday.

“We will continue to cover the news in Mali which is of interest to all of Africa and the rest of the world.

All technical solutions will be implemented to make our media accessible to Malians who wish to continue to receive free, expert information that is open to the world,” continues FMM.

Accessible on social networks

The station and the channel had already been cut since mid-March "on the FM network for RFI and by the operators who distribute television on site for France 24", the group told AFP.

On the other hand, RFI remained "accessible by" short waves ", a technical means widely used in Africa in particular by populations far from large cities", just like France 24 "by direct satellite reception", according to the group.

Social networks also remained accessible and the two media “will benefit, as in Russia, in partnership with RSF, from mirror websites, via addresses that cannot be cut by the Malian authorities”.

Diplomatic crisis

The decision to sanction RFI and France 24 comes as the Malian junta on Tuesday evening accused the French army of "espionage" and "subversion" after the French general staff broadcast videos shot by a nearby drone. from a base in central Mali recently returned by France.

On March 17, she ordered the suspension of the broadcast of RFI and France 24, after the publication by these French media of information according to which the Malian army was involved in abuses against civilians, a decision then described as "serious". by Emmanuel Macron.

The French president had considered that it was "the sign of a race forward towards the worst" for the Sahelian country.

He had launched an appeal “to ECOWAS, the regional organization, and to the African Union to take the appropriate decisions (…), so that, both the violence and (…) the closure, the denial of the information and the right of journalists to freely inform can cease".

Escalating tensions

Since then, France Médias Monde has been defending itself and wants to initiate a “defamation action in France and Mali, following the publication” of a press release (…) “in which the Malian government compares the alleged actions of RFI and France 24 to the infamous practices and role of the Mille Collines radio station”.

"These accusations, which refer to the radio having encouraged the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, in addition to being totally unfounded, are extremely serious and shocking, undermining the integrity of RFI and France 24 as well as the safety of teams", denounces FMM, without specifying the number of his teammates still on site.

Against the backdrop of the diplomatic crisis with Bamako, Paris announced in February the withdrawal of its soldiers deployed in Mali, an operation to be completed this summer.

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