In Burkina Faso, Spanish Journalist Killings Underscore Broader Dangers To The Press
By Committee to Protect Journalists Listen to article
The murder of Spanish reporters David Beriain and Roberto Fraile by unidentified attackers last week in eastern Burkina Faso was a tragic example of the dangerous working conditions for journalists in the country, where the government has struggled to contain a rise in militant activity in recent years.
Beriain and Fraile were kidnapped along with Rory Young, an Irish conservation worker, from an anti-poaching convoy on April 26; the three were reported dead the next day byofficials and media outlets; a Burkinabè soldier also went missing. The Associated Press reported that an audio recording of someone purporting to be a member of the jihadist group Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) claimed responsibility for killing “three white people.”
Irish conservationist Rory Young s murderers killed by Burkina Faso Army
Irish Mirror 10 hrs ago Michael O Toole
Eight of the Islamic fighters involved in the murder of Irish conservationist Rory Young in Burkina Faso have themselves been shot dead, it is claimed.
Almost two weeks after Mr Young was executed with Spanish journalists David Beriain and Roberto Fraile, the west African country’s military said in a statement that its soldiers had killed the fighters in a follow-up operation.
“On the enemy side, eight terrorists were neutralised following search operations and equipment was recovered,” a Burkina Faso Army spokesman said.
The statement in the wake of a major military operation to track down the terror gang involved in the cold-blooded murder of Mr Young, 48, along with Spanish journalists David Beriain, 44 and Roberto Fraile, 47.
Alvaro Barrientos
Two Spanish journalists and an Irish citizen have been killed after they were kidnapped during an anti-poaching patrol in Burkina Faso on Monday.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez confirmed the deaths of the Spanish nationals Tuesday in a post on Twitter. “The worst news has been confirmed. All of our affection for the families,” he wrote.
Sánchez identified them as David Beriain and Roberto Fraile.
The pair were part of a group of 40 people patrolling a national park near the border of Burkina Faso and Benin in West Africa, Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya told a press conference in Madrid Tuesday shortly before their deaths were officially confirmed.
West Africa: Terrorist attacks on journalists in the Sahel must be addressed urgently
In April 2021, journalists were killed and kidnapped in two Sahel countries, Burkina Faso and Mali. Credit: Wikimedia/Munion
ARTICLE 19 strongly condemns the recent terrorist attacks on journalists in Mali and Burkina Faso, which resulted in the deaths of three people and the kidnapping of another.
The murder of two Spanish journalists and an Irish conservationist, as well as the disappearance of a Burkinabé citizen in eastern Burkina Faso on 26 April, are deplorable. The two journalists were working on an anti-poaching documentary at the time of their deaths.