Africa

The Committee to Protect Journalists and Freedom House called on the U.S. government to maintain Cameroon’s ineligibility for preferential trade benefits ahead of its July 18 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) review hearing, citing Cameroon’s continued repression and imprisonment of journalists. Cameroon is consistently among Africa’s worst jailers of journalists, with five journalists—Amadou Vamoulke, Manch Bibixy, Thomas Awah Junior, Tsi Conrad,…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 180 journalists, civil society organizations, and academic researchers in a joint letter urging Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye to end the prolonged detention of journalist and writer René Capain Bassène, who has been behind bars since January 2018 and convicted of complicity in murder. A CPJ investigation found Bassène could…

Dakar, July 14, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Senegalese authorities to release news commentator Badara Gadiaga, to cease arresting journalists, and to refrain from retaliating against the media for coverage critical of the government.  Senegal’s special cybersecurity division (DSC) arrested Gadiaga on July 9, 2025, over his remarks during a July 4, 2025, broadcast about…

Dakar, July 7, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Senegalese authorities to immediately release news commentator Bachir Fofana, after a judge ordered on July 2 that Fofana remain in detention until July 9, pending the continuation of his trial. Fofana was charged with publishing false news about the recipient of a vehicle purchase contract for the…

New York July 2, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Zimbabwean authorities to release newspaper editor Faith Zaba, who was arrested on July 1. She is facing charges of “undermining or insulting the authority of the president” in connection with a satirical column. “This case sends the message that Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and…

Kinshasa, June 26, 2025—A senior military officer of the Congolese armed forces arrested Serge Sindani, a defense reporter and director of the privately owned website Kis24.info, on Tuesday, June 24, for posting a photo of combat aircraft on his X account two days prior.  “Authorities in the DRC must not legitimize the detention of journalist…

Nairobi, June 25, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Kenyan authorities’ Wednesday ban on live coverage of deadly protests, in which at least two journalists were injured, and the shutdown of at least three broadcasters. Protesters took to the streets in most of Kenya’s 47 counties to mark the one-year anniversary of anti-tax…

Nairobi, June 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday expressed alarm at a Zambian bill that could jail journalists who work without a license for up to five years were it to become law, according to a draft reviewed by CPJ. “We are deeply concerned about the lack of transparency in the legislative process surrounding…

Dakar, June 20, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Togolese authorities to rescind a three-month broadcasting ban on France 24 television network and Radio France Internationale (RFI) for allegedly undermining stability with biased reporting. On June 16, Togo’s regulatory High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC) suspended the two outlets, which are subsidiaries of…

Kinshasa, June 13, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the three-day detention of RTNC journalist Willy-Albert Kande and interrogation of colleagues Marcelin Mwananteba, Don Kubutana, and Laurent Ngala over coverage of sanitation conditions at the Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “DRC authorities should have never…