On July 26, Niger's presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum. The guard's commander, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, proclaimed himself the country's new leader.

France Unhappy With Niger’s France 24 Suspension - But Does Paris Remember Banning Sputnik?

19:22, 7 August 2023

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Gleb Chugunov

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On July 26, Niger's presidential guard carried out a coup by removing President Mohamed Bazoum from power. A week after the coup, Niger has barred French radio RFI (Radio France Internationale) and the France 24 TV broadcaster from transmitting.

Sputnik

While French diplomacy "strongly condemns the suspension of France 24 and RFI broadcasting in Niger", the Russian media Sputnik and RT remain banned from the French soil since March 2022.

If Paris wants to show that it is committed to freedom of press, it could reconsider its decision, according to Manuel Marchal, the author of an article in the French newspaper Temoignages. Marchal went on to explain that the press freedom that France supposedly defends must not be "variable geometry".

After France 24 and RFI radio were suspended on Nigerien soil, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs "strongly" condemned the decision.

In a statement,France reaffirmed "its constant and determined commitment to press freedom [...] everywhere in the world".

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However, as the author of the article points out, "this press release shows that the government defends press freedom in Africa and elsewhere, but not in Europe", recalling the ban on the Russian media agencies.

"Continuing that "RT News and Sputnik are the equivalents of France 24 and RFI", Manuel Marchal noted that their "main fault" was the fact that they "showed the other side of the war: the bombing of civilians by the Ukrainian army, the discovery of torture camps run by extreme right-wing groups allied to Kiev, the difficult daily life in the Donbass. So many images that went against the propaganda of Western governments [...] broadcast by France 24 and RFI in particular."

So, according to Marchal, Paris is defending "variable-geometry press freedom".

He concluded by saying that Paris "may decide to end the ban on RT News and Sputnik broadcasting in the Republic" in order "to be credible in its demand concerning the broadcasting in Niger of two of its media: France 24 and RFI."