Burkina radio station suspended over 'junta' Facebook post

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ABIDJAN - Burkina Faso suspended the licence of a popular radio station on Saturday for allegedly insulting the west African country's military government by calling it a junta.

Since Captain Ibrahim Traore came to power in a coup in September 2022, several media outlets have been suspended in Burkina Faso -- including France's LCI, RFI and France 24 -- and some local journalists have been forced into exile.

Burkina Faso's Higher Council for Communication (CSC) said in a decision published on Saturday that it was "suspending Radio Omega's broadcasting licence for a period of three months".

"During this period, Radio Omega is prohibited from broadcasting and from publishing on its platforms, including on its website and digital networks," the CSC decision said.

The Burkina Faso media regulatory authority said it had "observed shortcomings" in a report published on the radio station's Facebook page on July 30, which it said contained "malicious and discourteous remarks toward the Burkinabe authorities."

In an article about a demonstration in the capital, Ouagadougou, during a tribute to a Burkinabe influencer who died in detention in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's main city, Radio Omega wrote: "Ivory Coast is regularly accused by the Burkinabe junta of harbouring opponents and fomenting plots."

"The expression 'Burkinabe junta', in addition to being inappropriate for referring to the Burkinabe authorities, is pejorative and insulting, suggesting contempt," the CSC stated.

"Such a tendency by the media constitutes a malicious insinuation and seriously offends the Burkinabe authorities."

In a statement released on Thursday, the radio station attributed the article's publication to "a service provider" that had not been validated by the editorial management.

On Wednesday, Radio Omega -- a subsidiary of the Omega Medias group, which also owns a television channel owned by journalist and former foreign minister Alpha Barry -- issued a correction, removing the "inappropriate expressions".

"Radio Omega demonstrates its persistent lack of rigour in the handling of information, despite a (previous) formal notice," the CSC said.

It ordered the media outlet to "publicly apologise to the Burkinabe authorities, its readers and listeners".

In August 2023, Radio Omega was suspended for a month after broadcasting an interview with the spokesperson for a movement that wanted to reinstate Niger's former president Mohamed Bazoum, who had been overthrown in a coup.

The authorities alleged the article was "peppered with insulting remarks against the new authorities" in Niger.