On 13 May, Mali’s High Authority for Communication announced it had suspended distribution of the television channel TV5 Monde. Mali accused the French state-owned outlet of ‘defamatory remarks’ about security forces preventing an anti-government protest from accessing a performing arts centre. The recent suspension is the second for TV5 Monde in Mali, with the first being in September 2024 for three months.

In 2022, Mali also enacted a ‘definitive’ suspension of the state-run French channels France 24 and Radio France International (RFI) over a ‘premeditated strategy aimed at destabilising the political transition, demoralising the Malian people and discrediting the Malian army.’ In August 2024, Mali also suspended the French channel La Chaîne Info (LCI) for two months. 

Like Mali, fellow members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Burkina Faso and Niger, have also suspended the broadcasts of French state-owned media.

Continued….
Burkina Faso suspended TV5 Monde for six months in June 2024, accusing the channel of spreading ‘controversial comments bordering on disinformation,’ especially regarding Burkina Faso’s army. In December 2022, Burkina Faso ordered the immediate suspension of RFI due to their broadcast of a threatening declaration on behalf of a t*rrorist. Three months later, Ouagadougou ordered the indefinite suspension of France 24 after the channel interviewed a t*rrorist leader from Al-Q*eda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

On 3 August 2023, just days after President Abdourahamane Tiani came to power, Niger suspended France 24 and RFI.

The three AES countries have jointly launched AES Web TV and the website https://aes.ml to coordinate and diffuse their media. The move is part of the AES plan to bond the three states as a federal Pan-African state, with the radical goal of eventually unifying Africa under one governance.

Sources


https://www.actuniger.com/international/20367-medias-apres-rfi-et-france-24-la-chaine-lci-suspendue-au-mali-par-la-hac-pour-une-duree-de-deux-mois.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2024/06/19/burkina-faso-la-chaine-d-information-tv5-monde-suspendue-pour-six-mois_6241144_3212.html

https://fr.apanews.net/communication/mali-la-diffusion-de-tv5-monde-suspendue-pour-manque-dimpartialite/

https://www.aa.com.tr/fr/afrique/mali-retrait-définitif-des-autorisations-de-rfi-et-de-france-24/2574722

https://fr.africanews.com/2023/03/27/le-burkina-faso-suspend-france-24-apres-linterview-dun-chef-dal-qaida/

https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2023/03/27/au-burkina-les-autorites-ordonnent-la-suspension-de-la-diffusion-de-france-24_6167111_3212.html

https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/censure-au-burkina-faso-rfi-est-desormais-inaudible

FBI MANUFACTURES TERRORISM

In the United States, the FBI’s countert*rrorism operations disproportionately targets marginalised communities. In the wake of the 11 September 2001 t*rrorist attacks, the FBI began manufacturing t*rror plots, luring vulnerable people into participating via coaching, baiting, and then arresting them. After such operations, the FBI gets to take credit for stopping a threat that never existed.

British satirist Chris Morris (@Morris_Bits on X ) delves into this very topic through his 2019 dark-comedy film, ‘The Day Shall Come.’ Initially unaware of this practice's scale, Morris was shocked to uncover what he estimates to be hundreds of such cases.

Continued……His film draws on these stories to satirise the warped logic of a security system that rewards creating threats. It also is a poignant reminder that a leopard doesn't change its spots. The tactic of infiltrating close circles with ‘problematic’ characters allowed the FBI in 1969 to murder Fred Hampton, the 21-year-old chair of the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter.

Have a watch, and please share your thoughts.

Video credit: @Channel4News on YouTube

Sources
https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-day-shall-come-chris-morris-interview-2019/

https://allthatsinteresting.com/william-oneal y

TRUMP - LIVING PROOF U.S. NOT BUILT FOR BLACK FOLKS

One of the first things Donald Trump did when he returned to the White House was scrap federal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programmes. He instructed department heads to close all DEI offices, laying off DEI employees.

Since then, his administration’s threatened US educational institutions with funding cuts if they fail to terminate DEI programmes. Some, like Columbia, have given in to the bullying. Others, like Harvard, reject Trump's ultimatum. The institution is suing the Trump administration, branding its actions ‘unlawful.’

Continued………. DEI measures were rolled out to remove barriers to employment, education, housing and healthcare. Numerous studies conducted over decades have found that minority groups face systemic challenges rooted in race. For example, a 2002 study by Devah Pager found that Black people in the US with no criminal records had the same (or worse) chance of securing employment as White job-seekers with criminal records.

Further, the prison-industrial complex (prison for profits) disproportionately targets Black communities. Black people make up about 13% of the US population, but nearly 40% of the country’s prison population.

In this clip, TitToker @blackfactsmatter says that Trump’s approach only confirms the true racist nature of America. You see, the racist nature of the US had been partially concealed by previous administrations, which were simply better at hiding what the country really was. But now, thanks to Trump, the pretence is gone. The fact is that the US is a nation founded on White supremacy.

Video credit: @blackfactsmatter (on TikTok)

Sources

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/

https://mynbc15.com/news/nation-world/trump-takes-significant-steps-towards-dismantling-dei-programs-in-first-100-days-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-programs-federal-government

https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/01/trump-administration-lay-all-federal-employees-dei-offices/402403/

https://apnews.com/article/columbia-research-funding-cuts-antisemitism-palestine-israel-6f5f6a66306ec2467fc346b993e87a50

https://www.saul.com/insights/alert/harvard-university-sues-trump-administration-over-federal-funding-freeze

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/15/us/universities-responses-investigations-funding-freeze/index.html

https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/mark-criminal-record

https://www.princeton.edu/news/2008/01/31/understanding-americas-racial-divide-drives-pagers-work

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/racial_and_ethnic_disparities

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-removes-dei-from-the-foreign-service/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/23/what-do-trumps-executive-orders-on-workplace-diversity-programmes-say

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/04/11/ibm-reportedly-walks-back-diversity-policies-citing-inherent-tensions-here-are-all-the-companies-rolling-back-dei-programs/

GOOD NEWS SUNDAY!

Our end-of-week dose of uplifting news from Africa looks at how banana waste is being turned into great-looking hair extensions and how solar power is helping people charge their hearing aids in remote, off-grid regions. These homegrown breakthroughs are acts of continental self-determination. Tell us what African stories brightened your day in the comments.

Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream