On 7 October, Burkina Faso’s Higher Council of Communications suspended Voice of America (VOA) from broadcasting for three months. This comes after a 19 September programme, during which VOA reporter Bagassi Koura described the 17 September t*rrorist attack on Bamako, Mali, as ‘courageous.’ In that same interview, Koura claimed Malian Armed Forces did not take any security measures. Burkina Faso’s communications council says VOA fabricated casualty statistics, which it claims are designed to crush the morale of Burkinabé and Malian military forces.
The 17 September terrorist attack in Bamako occurred a day after the first anniversary of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), an anti-imperialist Pan-African regional bloc made up of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. The three AES countries federated in July to share policies. They reject Western military intervention, with all three booting French troops and Niger becoming the first African country to expel US Air Force personnel stationed through the US Africa Command (AFRICOM). In recent months, Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traoré has criticised US imperialism.
Voice of America (VOA) is a US-state media outlet funded by the United States Congress. The US Agency for Global Media oversees US-funded media outlets like Voice of America, stating on its website that the ‘long-range interests of the United States are served by communicating directly with the peoples of the world by radio.’ VOA targets audiences in 22 Francophone African countries; 13 million people in Eritrea and Ethiopia through the Amharic, Afan Oromo and Tigrinya languages; and 37 million people through English programming in all 54 African countries. It also broadcasts in African languages, such as Fulani, Bambara, Hausa, Swahili, Somali, and others.
https://t.me/sputnik_africa/27042
https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/mission/
https://www.usagm.gov/2024/08/26/voa-launches-fulani-language-programming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PIWkEkn-7I
https://www.insidevoa.com/p/6580.html
https://www.insidevoa.com/p/6416.html
1 Comment
Serves them right 😮💨