Niger suspends BBC, announces a complaint against RFI

Dakar, December 13, 2024 – Nigerien authorities have suspended the U.K. government-funded British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for three months and announced the Nigerien government would bring a complaint of “incitement to genocide and inter-community massacre” against the French government-owned Radio France Internationale (RFI).

“The Nigerien authorities should reverse their suspension of the BBC and their intentions to take legal action against RFI,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “The Nigerien government should recognize that press freedom is an essential ingredient for development and peace, and cease its efforts to control information related to the region’s security situation.”

On Thursday, December 12, 2024, Niger’s Minister of Communication Raliou Sidi Mohamed imposed the BBC suspension. BBC reported that its programs, which are broadcast across Niger via local radio partners, had been suspended, but its “website is not blocked and the radio can still be accessed on shortwave.”

The suspension followed Nigerien authorities’ refutation of BBC’s coverage of jihadist attacks on Tuesday, December 10, which reportedly killed dozens of soldiers and civilians. BBC said that Niger’s military government, which took power in a July 2023 coup, called accounts of the attacks “baseless assertions” and a “campaign of intoxication orchestrated by adversaries of the Nigerien people aimed at undermining the morale of our troops and sowing division.”

BBC Afrique denied the accusations and said, “We stand by our journalism.”

Separately, also on December 12, Niger’s government announced its intention to file a complaint against RFI following its reporting on the same attacks. The announcement said that “a vast disinformation campaign was orchestrated by Radio France Internationale in a crude and shameful montage with genocidal overtones” but did not specify when or where the complaint would be filed.

RFI Afrique described the complaint as “extravagant and defamatory, and not based on any evidence.”

In 2023, Nigerien authorities suspended RFI and France 24, which are both subsidiaries of the French government-owned France Médias Monde, and earlier this year tightened legal control over the press by reinstating prison sentences for defamation and insult. 

CPJ’s phone calls to Minister of Communication Mohamed went unanswered.