Adama Bayala, a columnist who frequently appeared on the “Presse Echos” program of the privately owned BF1 broadcaster, went missing on June 28, 2024, after leaving his university office in his car.
At least two other journalists — L’Événement newspaper publishing director Serge Atiana Oulon and BF1 commentator Kalifara Séré — had already gone missing that month.
In July, Ibrahim Traoré, president of Burkina Faso’s military government that seized power during a 2022 coup, said in a speech that an unnamed journalist had been “recently conscripted” into the army for his reporting. In the speech, Traoré criticized the media for reporting what “terrorists” said when Burkina Faso was at war, a reference the government forces’ conflict with Islamist armed groups.
On October 24, 2024, Marcel Zongo, Director General for Human Rights at Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Justice, told the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the Gambian capital, Banjul, that the three journalists had been conscripted. In 2023, Burkina Faso passed an emergency general mobilization law, allowing conscription to fight the insurgents.
A person close to Bayala told CPJ anonymously, citing fear of reprisal, that the journalist was ill, received regular medical treatment, and had to follow a strict diet.
Another person familiar with the case, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, told CPJ that Bayala was detained in a secret location in the capital, Ouagadougou.
A fourth journalist, Alain Traoré, was seized by masked men in July 2024. That month, CPJ wrote to President Traoré, expressing concern over the four journalists’ disappearance and requesting assistance in investigating their whereabouts and wellbeing. The letter received no response.
CPJ’s calls and text messages at the time the journalists went missing to the then-government spokesperson Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, the police, and gendarmerie went unanswered.
Additional calls in April 2025 to Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, who had become Prime Minister, government spokesperson Pingdwendé Gilbert Ouedraogo, and the Ministry of Defense also went unanswered.
Séré was released on July 11, 2025. Bayala and Alain Traoré were released on September 16, 2025.