Niger’s authorities have suspended the BBC for three months over its coverage of an alleged extremist attack that reportedly killed dozens of Nigerien soldiers and civilians, officials announced on Thursday.
“BBC broadcasts false information aimed at destabilizing social calm and undermining the troops’ morale,” said Communications Minister Raliou Sidi Mohamed in letters addressed to radio stations that rebroadcast BBC content. Mohamed directed the stations to suspend BBC programs “with immediate effect.”
The BBC declined to comment on the suspension.
Popular BBC programs, including broadcasts in Hausa—the most widely spoken language in Niger—are aired in the country through local radio partners, ensuring wide regional reach.
On Wednesday, the BBC’s Hausa service reported on its website that gunmen had killed over 90 Nigerien soldiers and more than 40 civilians in two villages near the Burkina Faso border.
French broadcaster Radio France Internationale (RFI) also reported on the incident, describing it as a jihadi attack and citing the same casualty figures.
Nigerien authorities denied the attack occurred in a statement broadcast on state television. They also announced plans to file a complaint against RFI for “incitement to genocide.”
Niger, alongside neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, has faced a decade-long insurgency waged by jihadi groups, including factions aligned with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. In recent years, military juntas in all three countries have seized power, expelled French forces, and sought security assistance from Russia’s mercenary groups.