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Mali/France rift worsens as military junta announces plans to suspend French media, RFI, France 24

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The rift between Mali’s ruling military junta of Colonel Assimi Goïta and French authorities has hit new track as the Malian authority has announced plans to suspend broadcasts by French state-funded international news outlets RFI and France 24 amid accusation of reporting “false allegations”.

The suspension was announced in a statement on Thursday.

“categorically rejects these false accusations against the courageous FAMA (Malian Armed Forces),” spokesperson Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga said on Thursday.

The military is “initiating proceedings… to suspend broadcasts by RFI and France 24… until further notice,” he said.

Maiga said Malian news websites, newspapers, and its national radio and TV stations were all “banned from rebroadcasting and/ or publishing programmes and news articles put out by RFI and France 24”.

He compared the French broadcasters to Rwanda’s Radio Mille Collines – a notorious outlet that incited listeners to exterminate minority Tutsis during the 1994 genocide.

“Certain allegations, particularly those advanced by RFI, have no other objective than to sow hatred,” he said, adding that this demonstrated the “criminal intent” of some journalists.

France’s foreign ministry called the decision to suspend the broadcasters a grave attack on media freedom and said the allegations of army abuses must not be ignored.

The European Union lashed out at the ban calling it “unacceptable” and said the accusations on which it was based were “unfounded.”

“By attacking the freedom of the press, the freedom to inform and to be informed, the junta is continuing and confirming that it is pushing ahead regardless,” foreign policy spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said in Brussels.

Until recently, the relationship between Mali and France seems smooth with French-led military intervention ousting jihadists who were taking control of northern Mali but the relations have deteriorated with Mali’s new military leaders, who seized power in a 2020 coup.

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Equatorial Guinea bans sex in govt offices after tapes leak

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Following the release of private recordings on social media that seemed to show a senior finance ministry official having sex with multiple women in a variety of locations, including his office, Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday announced a crackdown on sex in government offices.

The administration claimed that because the recordings had damaged the reputation of the small Central African nation, it was taking action.

Since the videos first surfaced last week, the controversy has been rocking the government of Equatorial Guinea, which has had the same president for decades.

Hundreds of amateur films were discovered at the finance official’s residence during a raid related to a corruption inquiry, according to local media sources.

According to local media, the women in the films seemed to be family members and the spouses of other influential government officials.

According to a government statement, Vice President Nguema Obiang Mangue issued fresh directives on Tuesday to stop ministry and court workers from committing crimes at work.

These included increased security and the installation of security cameras in every workplace.

“The executive is taking this decision following the videos of a sexual nature that have gone viral on social media in recent days and that denigrate the country’s image,” the state information agency said in the statement.

According to the statement, the measures were decided upon in emergency sessions with the attorney general, the Supreme Court, and other parties.

It stated that individuals featured in the sex tapes would be suspended without being given their identities, and those in charge of guarding the buildings where the videos were purportedly shot would receive reprimands for their negligence.

The longest-serving president in history, Teodoro Obiang, has led Equatorial Guinea, a country of around 1.7 million inhabitants on the west coast of Central Africa, for 45 years.

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Chad threatens to leave international security force

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Mahamat Idriss Deby, the temporary president of Chad, has threatened to withdraw the Central African nation from a multinational security force, claiming that the force has not been successful in combating rebel groups in the Lake Chad region.

During his tour of the area, which includes parts of western Chad, Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon, Deby made the declaration on Sunday. In late October, suspected Boko Haram militants attacked Chad, killing about 40 soldiers.

Deby declared that an operation against the invaders had begun and that he was thinking of leaving the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), which is composed of troops from the nations that border Lake Chad.

 

Although disagreements and a lack of coordination have made the joint force’s job more difficult, Chad’s withdrawal would be a significant setback because its military is one of the most reputable in the area.

Deby cited “the lack of joint efforts against the common enemy, which is unfortunately always observed on the ground. This force – created to pool efforts and intelligence – seems to be in a slump.”

Insurgencies have frequently attacked the Lake Chad region, notably Boko Haram, which began in northeast Nigeria in 2009 and expanded to the west of Chad, and Islamic State terrorists in West Africa.

Moreso, an estimated 910,000 people have crossed into Chad since the onset of the crisis in Sudan, of which 222,743 are Chadian returnees as of the end of September 2024.

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