Burkina Faso suspended the BBC and Voice of America radio stations for their coverage of a report by Human Rights Watch on a mass killing of civilians carried out by the country's armed forces. Burkina Faso's communication spokesperson, Tonssira Myrian Corine Sanou, said late that Thursday that both radio stations would be suspended for two weeks, and warned other media networks to avoid reporting on the story. According to the report published by Human Rights Watch on Thursday, the army killed some 223 civilians, including 56 children, in villages accused of cooperating with militants.
Burkina Faso's communication spokesperson, Tonssira Myrian Corine Sanou, said late Thursday that both radio stations would be suspended for two weeks, and warned other media networks to avoid reporting on the story.
The mass killings took place on February 25 in the country's northern villages of Nondin and Soro, and some 56 children were among the dead, according to the report.
A total of 118 people were the victim of extrajudicial killings by Kenyan police last year, local and international rights groups said in a report published on Wednesday, decrying the "impunity" still enjoyed by the security forces.
Questions are being raised about the potential use of Australian-supplied weaponry to Saudi Arabia, following a Human Rights Watch report on a mass killing at the Yemen-Saudi border. Suzanne James and Michelle Fahy report.
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday accused Colombia and Panama of failing to do enough to protect hundreds of thousands of US-bound migrants crossing the dense, lawless jungle between the two countries."Colombian and Panamanian authorities can and should do more to ensure the rights of migrants and asylum seekers crossing their countries, as well as of local communities that have experienced years of neglect," she added.