Burundi Lifts Ban on BBC After Almost 3 Years
Burundi's media
authority announced Wednesday that it would lift a nationwide ban on the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), nearly three years after the
broadcaster was forced to stop operating in the East African country.
The National
Communication Council withdrew the license for the broadcasting giant in 2019,
accusing it of breaching press laws and unprofessional conduct.
"We reached the decision to reopen BBC radio starting today," the regulator's president, Vestine Nahimana, said.
The broadcaster
had met the conditions set by the government, Nahimana said, adding that
President Evariste Ndayishimiye had initiated the easing of restrictions on
sanctioned news outlets.
Voice of America was
suspended alongside BBC Radio in May 2018. While BBC has met the government's
conditions to broadcast, VOA has not.
The two
broadcasters were suspended barely two weeks before a constitutional referendum
intended to shore up the power of former President Pierre Nkurunziza and enable
him to rule until 2034.
The
government-controlled media regulator accused the BBC of damaging the
reputation of Nkurunziza during a discussion program and said the broadcaster
had ignored previous warnings.
The suspension followed a damning BBC investigation into alleged secret torture sites run by the government to silence dissent. The state denied the report, dismissing it as "fake news."
Nkurunziza died of
heart failure in June 2020.
Following
Ndayishimiye's election, Western nations including the United States and the
European Union have eased sanctions on the country, crediting elections, a
decrease in violence, and government reforms. But campaign groups insist human
rights are still being widely abused.
Before the ban,
the BBC and VOA used to broadcast daily in the national language Kirundi as
well as in French and English, and drew large numbers of listeners, especially
in rural areas.
Burundi is the
poorest country in the world as measured by GDP per capita, at less than $240
(215 euros) in 2020, according to the World Bank.
It is ranked among
the worst countries in the world for press freedom, with many local and
international news outlets blacklisted and independent journalists forced into
exile since a major political crisis in 2015.
VOA
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