(Agence Ecofin) – On a visit to Benin, Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum spoke to journalists in the company of his Beninese counterpart. During the press briefing, the Beninese Head of State criticized RFI for its treatment of information related to the terrorist threat at the common border of the two countries.
In Benin, Patrice Talon, the President of the Republic, criticized RFI for its handling of information related to the terrorist threat on his country’s common border with Niger. The reproach was made to the local RFI correspondent on March 13 during the press briefing organized as part of the visit of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum.
Following a question from the RFI correspondent on the collaboration of the two countries against terrorism, Patrice Talon took up the media on the words used to describe the frequency of incidents at Park W, a cross-border complex between Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Benin: in the presence of Mohamed Bazoum, Patrice Talon settles his accounts with RFI #RFI #Benin #cotonou #PatriceTalon #Africa #Africa pic.twitter.com/lpmqrtogS3
— Franki Mexens (@Franki229241) March 13, 2023
“Our action is bearing fruit, attacks and threats are rather rare. I wouldn’t say we have final peace […] but these threats in these regions are rather under control and I can say that we are relatively satisfied with what is being done, to the great displeasure of RFI, which misses no opportunity to rejoice in our real or imaginary disappointments. We all heard this morning that W Park is under regular attack. I don’t know if that word has the same meaning as sporadic or rare.”declared the Beninese Head of State.
Patrice Talon criticized the media for “praising things that are very bad or that only exist in the media’s imagination”. For the moment, RFI has not reacted to this subject. In recent years, the processing of RFI’s news has been called into question in places on the African continent. The radio was notably suspended by the Malian authorities in April 2022.
Servan Ahougnon
