Burkina Faso: French media and terrorism in the Sahel, when propaganda becomes an accomplice to criminals
A man holds up the national flag as people celebrate at the Place de la Nation in the capital Ouagadougou, after Burkina Faso's embattled President Blaise Compaore announced earlier on October 31, 2014, he was stepping down to make way for elections following a violent uprising against his 27-year rule. Blaise took power in a coup in 1987 but quickly swapped the "democratic revolution's" Marxist ideals for authoritarian rule. AFP PHOTO / ISSOUF SANOGO (Photo credit should read ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)
At a time when the people of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger are still healing the wounds of terrorist attacks, an unbearable noise reaches us from certain French media outlets. Under the guise of geopolitical analysis, these press organs have turned into echo chambers of atrocity, presenting barbaric acts as almost honorable facts of war. This enterprise of popularizing evil goes beyond mere journalistic clumsiness to border on complicity with crime.
Admittedly, relations are icy between France and the countries of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
The departure of French troops and the strategic repositioning of these countries toward new partners such as Russia, Turkey, or Iran were perceived in Paris as a humiliation.
But does this diplomatic rift give a section of the French press the right to cross the red line? Apparently, some see it as permission to justify the unjustifiable.
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The mechanism is perverse but well-honed. It is no longer simply about reporting facts, but about psychoanalyzing the terrorist, understanding their grievances, contextualizing their crimes until they are emptied of their tragic substance.
By presenting the enemy that slaughters populations as a political combatant or an insurgent, these media outlets participate in undermining the legitimacy of our defense forces.
Worse, this biased media coverage acts as encouragement for armed groups who, seeing their atrocities thus publicized and sometimes relativized, redouble their efforts to stay in the news.
How can we not make the connection between this indecent media treatment and the serious accusations made by intelligence services?
The recent statement by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) corroborates what AES leaders have been asserting for months: Paris is preparing coups d’état and providing direct support to terrorists of all stripes to destabilize these sovereign nations.
If this information proves accurate, then French media would no longer be mere propagandists, but indeed the useful idiots of a neocolonial destabilization strategy.
Malian analyst Abdoulaye Diallo raised a question worth considering: Is France seeking revenge against AES countries for their refusal to submit to Western will? These peoples are not fooled.
They know that behind the grand speeches on human rights sometimes hides a brutal hypocrisy where support for terrorism becomes just another weapon.
French media must cease this charade. Stop whitewashing the criminals bloodying the Sahel. Stop whining about the fate of your departed armies and instead look at the tears of these women and children.
Cédric KABORE
