In Burkina Faso, the newspaper “L’Evènement” on February 18, 2016, was suspended by the High Communication Council (CSC) which said it has violated “military secrets”.

The penalty is subsequent to the publishing of an article entitled “Les poudrières du Burkina” (Burkina’s powder magazines) in the February 16, 2016 edition. The article is said to disclose technical and geographical details concerning the Army’s armament storing units.

CSC said there was violation, not only of the law, but also of the instruction calling Medias to more care after the January 15 attacks in Ouagadougou. This call prohibits the disclosing of any information susceptible of jeopardizing State security or compromising the efforts of state and security forces.

In response to the accusations, L’Evènement said it never disclosed any military secret and indicated that the article involved just points on a map, the army’s old no more in use storing units. Moreover, it could not be military secrets, since the data released is quite easy to obtain. Also, the newspaper discussed with the military justice after the publishing of the article. In sight of all these, CSC is now accused of stepping outside of its regulatory role to become “a judge of medias”.