by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – JOURNALISTS are under siege in Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
In Burkina Faso, the whereabouts of three journalists are unknown. Two journalists are missing and in Zimbabwe, a prominent journalist remains behind bars after interviewing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s fiercest critic.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on authorities in Burkina Faso to disclose the whereabouts of Guézouma Sanogo, Boukari Ouoba and Luc Pagbelguem, who were arrested on Monday, and released them unconditionally.
Intelligence officers took the Association of Burkinabe Journalists (ABJ) president Sanogo and vice-president Ouoba to an unknown location after Sanogo criticized the intimidation and “kidnapping” of journalists at the media group’s March 21 meeting.
National Security Council intelligence agents also arrested Pagbelguem at the privately owned channel BF1 TV’s offices in the capital, Ouagadougou, to question him about his report on the ABJ meeting.
Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative, said given the pattern in Burkina Faso of journalists being detained and disappearing under murky circumstances, it is imperative authorities reveal what has happened to the trio.
“Four Burkinabe journalists went missing last year, and only months later did the public learn that at least three of them had been conscripted into the military,” Ngom said.
CPJ has written a letter to Mozambique president, Daniel Chapo, to provide the whereabouts of missing journalists, Ibraimo Mbaruco, who disappeared in April 2020, and Arlindo Chissale, last seen in January 2025.
The government has also been urged to ensure accountability for the deaths of blogger, Albino Sibia, shot by a police officer in December 2024 while covering a protest, and João Chamusse, murdered in December 2023.
CPJ has previously documented incidents in which security personnel have attacked journalists, including during last year’s election season.
Zimbabwean authorities have detained Blessed Mhlanga since February and charged him with violence incitement for covering war veterans who called for the resignation of Mnangagwa.
Perfect Mswathi Hlongwane, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), denounced the detention.
“This is bad for the profession, this is bad for the country,” Hlongwane said.
– CAJ News