Members of Ansar Dine, a Salafist militant group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, shut down two local radio stations on March 27, 2012, as they seized the northeast town of Kidal from the Malian army, according to local journalists.
The gunmen closed down community station Radio Tisdas, which partners with U.S. government funded-international broadcaster Voice of America, and renamed it “Station Islamique de L’Azawad,” according to Assikadaye Waerzagane, the station director.
Militants also seized the local station of Malian national public broadcaster Office de radiodiffusion et de télévision du Mali (ORTM), according to local journalists.