Mali suspends French news channel LCI for two months

RFI

25 August 2024 at 9:51 am·1-min read

Mali's military-led government has suspended broadcasting by French private news channel LCI on its territory for two months, alleging "false accusations" were made on air against the army and its Russian allies.

"The services of LCI television are withdrawn from the bundles of all distributors of radio or television broadcasting services authorised in Mali for a period of two months" from 23 August, Mali's media regulator (HAC) said in a statement on Saturday.

HAC objected to comments made by military specialist Colonel Michel Goya in a programme broadcast on LCI titled "Wagner Decimated in Mali: the Hand of Kyiv".

At the end of July, the Malian army and its Russian allies suffered a heavy defeat in the north of the country, with Tuareg-led rebels claiming to have killed 84 Wagner fighters and 47 Malian soldiers.

Mali on 4 August severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine, accusing it of supporting rebel groups, charges Kyiv has firmly rejected.

The communications authority said the programme, broadcast on 27 July, contained "disparaging remarks, gratuitous assertions and false accusations of exactions against the Malian armed forces and their Russian partners".

Clampdown on foreign media

Ruled by army leaders since a double coup in 2020 and 2021, Mali is battling both a jihadist insurgency and a separatist struggle in the north.

Since then Mali's junta has clamped down on foreign media.

(with newswires)

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Clampdown on foreign media

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