Three Burundian media outlets ordered to stop operating from Rwandan Territory
Three major Burundian media outlets, including Radio RPA and Inzamba and Renaissance Television, which had been operating in Rwanda after some of their employees fled in the country in 2015, barred from operating on the Rwandan territory.
The decision was taken on March 24th 2021 in Rwanda, according to Jeune Afrique.
It is alleged that the “officials in Rwanda” summoned the leaders of Radio RPA and Inzamba and Renaissance Television and informed them that they are not allowed to operate again from the Rwandan territory.
According to media reports, it is not a statement made through legal means but a resolution that has been communicated to the owners of these media in a negotiated manner.
They were told that broadcast from the Rwandan territory should be stopped “immediately
Renaissance Television Director Innocent Muhozi said, “We were warned last October, after a meeting between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Burundi and Rwanda.”
Rwanda is said to have agreed with Burundi that the closure of the radios will be one of the main steps to be taken to resolve the long-standing dispute between the two sides.
Only Muhozi said that the person who informed them that their media should be closed, assured them that there would be no problem of being deported to Burundi or that the hunt would happen later.
Willy Nyamitwe, Press Officer at the Office of the President of Burundi, said that the fact that the media was still active was an insult to the media in general.
“They don’t deserve the name of the media. The media spread the message of hatred to the people of Burundi. “
These radio stations operating from Rwanda through the internet, at the moment, their leaders have announced that they would be thinking of a new way of working.
