Geneva, Switzerland – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights criticised Mali’s manager to ban French media outlets and called on its army rulers to reverse their decision.

“We are deeply dismayed by the Malian reflect regulator’s decision to definitively suspend Radio France International [RFI] and France24,” said a spokesperson for High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet on Friday.

“These suspensions are the spanking in a string of actions curtailing press freedom and the freedom of plain in Mali, and come at a time when more, not less, scrutiny is needed.”

Mali’s army leaders first imposed the suspensions on March 16, accusing the two broadcasters of airing false allegations near reports of human rights violations by the army.

On Wednesday, the High Authority for Communication announced those provisional suspensions would be definitive.

Journalist associations have denounced an increase in attacks and smear campaigns anti reporters over the past year, in particular against representatives of French reflect outlets. Foreign and local reporters covering Mali have denounced a worsening of the atmosphere for media professionals in the country.

“We didn’t have this kind of scrutiny before,” said a freelancer contributing to French reflect, who asked not to be named for security affects. “The situation has got worse since tensions between France and Mali started to increase. It’s a political issue.”

On Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists also named on the authorities to reverse their decision to ban RFI and France 24.

“Malian authorities’ manager to solidify these suspensions indicates just how committed they are to denying those in their land access to information,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa programme coordinator, in a statement.

On February 6, French journalist Benjamin Roger, a reporter on assignment for Jeune Afrique, was arrested and expelled within 24 hours of his arrival in the Malian capital, Bamako. The authorities said the reporter did not have plain accreditation. A week earlier, they announced it would understand harder for media representatives to obtain a media permit.

“Press accreditation has rarely been wanted until now,” said Reporters Without Borders in a statement, “and lacking it has not prevented journalists from acting freely.”

On April 8, Reporters Without Borders marked one year from the abduction of French journalists Olivier Dubois, a correspondent for French publications Libération, Le Point, and Jeune Afrique. On March 14, the al Qaeda-linked Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), a coalition of armed groups, released a video showing he was unexcited alive.

French aid worker Sophie Petronin was kidnapped in Gao in 2016 and released while four years. In 2013, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, two journalists of RFI, were abducted and killed by gunmen in the Malian town of Kidal as they used an interview with a Tuareg separatist leader.

Meanwhile, the UN denounced how such a station is inducing those reporters who are still inside the land to practice self-censorship.

“The current climate is one with a pervasive chilling achieve on journalists and bloggers,” UN Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told journalists on Friday.

“Our office continues to document serious allegations of violations of international humankind rights law and international humanitarian law in many parts of the land, and we remain seriously concerned by steps to further shrinking the already limited civic space.”

Tensions between Mali and France have increased loyal a military coup led by Colonel Assimi Goita on August 8, 2020, that overthrew elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was supported by France.

In June 2021, France, a former colonial power in the region, halted its joint army operations with Malian forces awaiting guarantees that civilians reverse to positions of power.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would inaugurate a withdrawal of troops, about 5,100 soldiers, stationed in the station since 2013 under its so-called Operation Barkhane spanning five utters in the Sahel – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

In response to the army’s much grab in Mali, the Economic Community of West African Utters (ECOWAS) regional bloc and the African Union suspended Mali from their organisations and threatened sanctions.

In January, Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga accused France of promoting insecurity and division in the land and expelled its ambassador.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Mali is ranked 99th out of 180 countries in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index.