Mali Tightens Grip on Critical Speech About Regional Juntas.
By Admin
The Media Foundation for West Africa has condemned the arrest of Malian journalist Seydou Oumar Traoré – ironically, not for criticising his own government but for allegedly insulting Guinea’s leader.
On May 25, 2025, just hours after returning from an official mission to Kidal as part of the Minister of Defense’s delegation, Seydou Oumar Traoré was taken into custody by the Cybercrime Unit for allegedly insulting a foreign head of state, Guinea’s transitional President, General Mamady Doumbouya. His trial is scheduled for July 10, 2025.
In a video that went viral on social media, the journalist claimed that General Doumbouya had “betrayed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) by collaborating with Western countries to host terrorist bases on Guinean soil.”
In light of the legal proceedings and the threats he faced, Seydou Oumar Traoré issued a public apology to the President of Guinea in a video that also went viral on social media, delivered in the Dioula language.
The detention of Seydou Oumar Traoré is the second incident of detention being recorded in Mali since November 2024 over comments made about issues in other junta-led countries. On November 26, 2024, Malian private television station, Joliba TV, was suspended for six months over comments made about Burkina Faso’s President, Ibrahim Traoré, by a political activist, Issa Kaou N’Djim, during a political show. On his part, N’Djim, was found guilty of “publicly offending a foreign head of state” and was handed a two-year imprisonment sentence.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) expressed serious concern about this emerging trend of gagging Malians from expressing their views about happenings in other military-led countries in the region, and urges the Malian authorities to put an end to it.
The military juntas in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Guinea have been accused of gagging the media, suppressing press freedom, and restricting freedom of expression.
The Captain Ibrahim Traore government has suspended several international media outlets in Burkina Faso, including 13 organizations banned in 2023, over coverage of alleged military killings of civilians. Journalists critical of the junta have been conscripted into the army’s fight against terrorism, detained, or forced into exile.
In March 2025, three journalists were arrested for reporting on the government crackdown on media, and their whereabouts remain unknown. The junta has also dissolved the Journalists Association of Burkina Faso, further restricting press freedom.
