Burundi to lift ban on BBC broadcasts

By Prime Ndikumagenge

Burundi's media regulatory body has announced the BBC can resume operations in the country two years after it was banned.

“There are no more obstacles for the BBC to operate in Burundi," acting chairman Lurent Kagimbi of the National Communication Council (CNC) said.

"However, the BBC will need to submit a request to obtain a new operation licence because its licence was withdrawn," he added.

The BBC World Service was banned in March 2019 following a BBC Eye documentary that exposed secret detention and torture sites run by the country’s security services.

The government of late President Pierre Nkurunziza dismissed and condemned the documentary, aired in December 2018, before eventually banning the BBC more than three months later.

It was prevented from broadcasting in Burundi as well as reporting from the country.

Other media organisations, including the Voice of America, were also banned in relation to their coverage of the 2015 violence following the controversial decision by Mr Nkurunziza go for a third term in office.

A number of them have reopened since President Evariste Ndayishimiye came to power nearly a year ago.

He directed the media regulator to hold discussions with all proscribed media groups so that they could resume operations.

This article was originally published by BBC News. [Photo: Evrard Ngendakumana/Reuters]