On August 10, 2025, Burkinabe police officers took Moussa Sareba from the offices of the digital outlet Fil Infos, where he was working as a reporter, in the capital, Ouagadougou, two people with knowledge of the case told CPJ, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals.
The police took Sareba to his home, where they confiscated his computer and cell phone, one of those people said.
The journalist’s family and colleagues have not received any proof of life since then.
Sareba also works as a freelance administrator of privately owned Radio Oméga’s Facebook page. On July 30, a post was published on the outlet’s page about a protest that day over the death of a prominent social media commentator, which used the term “Burkinabe junta” to describe the government.
Ibrahim Traoré took power in Burkina Faso in a 2022 coup and has since backtracked on promises of elections. In 2026, he said people should “forget” about democracy, after his government dissolved all political parties and the electoral commission.
On July 31, Radio Oméga published a statement saying that it had deleted the post and Solomane Nikièma, whose byline appeared on the article, was not its author.
“Present on the ground to cover the demonstration, he provided the editorial staff with factual information accompanied by a short article describing the march,” it said.
“A service provider in charge of online publication took the initiative, without notifying the editors, to rewrite the article by introducing additional parts, including the controversial elements. He then published the text directly on our platforms, signed in the name of Solomane Nikièma, without any prior validation having been carried out, in violation of our editorial rules.”
On August 1, the regulatory High Council for Communication (CSC), suspended the station for three months and ordered it to publish an apology for the article’s “malicious and discourteous remarks towards the Burkinabe authorities.”
Many Burkinabe journalists critical of the government, as well as opposition politicians and prosecutors, have been forcibly conscripted into the army or held incommunicado, as it fights Islamist groups that control much of the country.
As of June 2026, CPJ had documented the conscription of five journalists, who have since been released: Guézouma Sanogo, Boukari Ouoba, Phil Roland Zongo, Kalifara Séré, and Luc Pagbelguem.
The whereabouts of L’Événement’s publishing director Serge Atiana Oulon, who was taken from his home in 2024, remained unknown as of June 2026. A government official said he had been conscripted, although CPJ was told in 2025 that he was being held in Ouagadougou.
At least one other Burkinabe journalist, whose name CPJ has not disclosed for security reasons, has been detained by Burkinabe authorities for several months at an unknown location, according to two people familiar with his case.
CPJ’s April 2026 calls to request comment from Prime Minister Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo and the national police office went unanswered.