Journalists in Burkina Faso blocked from accessing IDP sites

Government move causes concern about press freedom and the visibility of the country’s humanitarian crisis.

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso – Burkina Faso’s government has effectively banned local and foreign journalists from visiting official sites hosting people displaced by the country’s long-running conflict, Al Jazeera can reveal. A Burkina Faso government spokesperson confirmed the move in a WhatsApp message, saying “journalists and reporting teams’ safety and the dignity” of the internally displaced people (IDPs) were “essentially” the two reasons behind the ban. “In the future, these two factors should be taken into consideration and the government could then consider alternative arrangements,” the spokesperson added.