Niger junta suspends nine French media outlets including AFP, France 24 and RFI

Niger's military authorities on Friday issued a blanket suspension of nine of France's main media organisations: Agence France-Presse, France 24, Radio France Internationale, France Afrique Media, LSI Africa, TV5 Monde, TF1 Info, Jeune Afrique and Mediapart. A statement read on state television accused the outlets of repeatedly broadcasting content "likely to gravely endanger public order, national unity, social cohesion and the stability of the institutions" and said their reporting was liable to undermine troop morale.

The media regulatory authority offered no examples of the broadcasts it deemed unacceptable and did not say how long the suspension would apply. RFI and France 24 had already been off air since shortly after the July 2023 coup that brought the junta to power; Friday's order extends the ban to the remaining wire services, broadcasters and investigative outlets that French audiences in the country still relied on.

Reporters Without Borders called on Niger's Russian-backed government to lift what it described as an "abusive" decision issued "on the basis of fabricated charges." The press-freedom group said the move was part of "a coordinated strategy to repress press freedom" within the Alliance of Sahel States — the bloc grouping Niger with Mali and Burkina Faso, all run by military officers with close ties to the Kremlin and all former French colonies. Earlier in the week Burkina Faso suspended TV5 Monde, the latest in a series of parallel measures across the three capitals.

The order coincides with the aftermath of a major militant offensive in northern Mali, where Tuareg rebels and Islamist groups joined forces in late April to try to drive Mali's junta and its Russian auxiliaries out of regions bordering Niger. Mali's government has lost territory and its defence minister in the fighting; Russia has been vague about its own losses and response. Insurgent groups active in northern Mali also operate inside Niger.

The junta in Niamey has used hostility toward the former colonial power as a political tool since General Abdourahamane Tchiani's officers seized power in 2023, expelling French security forces and replacing them with Russian private military companies, and squeezing French commercial interests. Tchiani was sworn in last year as interim president for a five-year "transitional" term. The Sahel remains the world's deadliest terrorism front: a Council on Foreign Relations report counted 51 percent of global terrorism-related deaths in the region in 2024, with Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Chad all under sustained pressure from Islamist and separatist groups.

The suspension also lands days before President Emmanuel Macron is due in anglophone Kenya for a summit aimed at redefining France's postcolonial role in Africa. None of the AES governments plan to attend.