At the end of January, theali has notified international press correspondents that a new accreditation process will be put in place.
This expulsion occurs in a context of tensions between Paris and Bamako. A special envoy from Young Africa has been “arrested” then expelled from Mali a few hours after his arrival in Mali, announced Tuesday February 8 the direction of this French media. “The direction of Jeune Afrique condemns the decision taken by the Malian authorities to proceed with the expulsion of its special envoy, Benjamin Roger”she wrote in a press release, considering “this measure taken against his collaborator as unjustified and contravening the freedom to inform”.
“Arriving in Bamako on the night of February 6 to 7, Benjamin Roger was arrested at his hotel by the police on Monday February 7 around 11 a.m. and taken to the premises of the Judicial Investigation Brigade, where he was questioned, then in those of the Air and Border Police, where he was notified of his expulsion”, explains the management of the weekly.
According to management, the special envoy “had a valid entry visa and did not conceal his profession as a journalist or the fact that he came to exercise it – in complete impartiality – in Mali”, the statement continues.
No journalist from the international press has been deported in recent years in Mali, after the withdrawal in 2018 of the accreditation of a journalist from Radio France internationale (RFI). However, at the end of January, Mali notified international press correspondents that a new accreditation process was to be put in place. This accreditation is essential to come and work for an international media in Mali.
As the French presence in the Sahel comes into question, the ruling military junta last week expelled the French ambassador to Mali, marking a further hardening of relations between Bamako and Paris, while France still has around 4,000 soldiers in the region.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) for their part took on January 9 a battery of vigorous economic and diplomatic measures against Mali. to sanction the junta’s intention to stay in power for several more years, after two putschs in August 2020 and then in May 2021.
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