Africa

World Refugee Day draws attention to journalists who have been forced to flee their home countries due to threats, conflict, or repression. While exile is now recognized as a growing reality for journalists worldwide, the experiences of journalists CPJ supported last year reflect the reality that relocation does not necessarily bring safety. Increasingly, journalists in…

When Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama took office in January 2025, pledging to restore “an era of true media freedom,” journalists had reason to hope that attacks on the press would be taken more seriously than before. But during Mahama’s tenure, CPJ has documented eight separate incidents in which at least 17 journalists were attacked…

Journalist René Capain Bassène devoted his career to restoring peace to Senegal’s troubled Casamance region. The government accused him of being a rebel who ordered the murder of 14 men and jailed him for life. Now a rebel leader and a U.S. diplomat involved in peace negotiations have refuted the prosecution’s fundamentally flawed theory. The…

In the countdown to Ethiopia’s general election, journalist Bewket Abebe flew to the northern border town of Humera, in a rare attempt at on-the-ground reporting ahead of the June 1 vote. Bewket, chief editor of The Reporter Magazine, was scheduled to meet the administrator of the contested territory, which is claimed by both Tigray and…

A key Senegalese rebel leader, César Atoute Badiate, has broken his silence on jailed journalist René Capain Bassène, refuting the prosecution’s claim that Bassène was a militant fighting for independence of the Casamance region who incited him to murder 14 illegal loggers in 2018.  “René Capain Bassène is neither an MFDC representative nor a leader…

For months, lawyer Josiah Kalala has been working late into the night on a case he believes could define the future of press freedom in Zambia: preparing arguments, reviewing legal provisions, and consulting colleagues. Kalala, who heads Chapter One Foundation, a local human rights group, hopes that the hundreds of hours he has poured into…

Journalist Peter Maseke Mwita has a keener interest than most in Friday’s upcoming ruling on the constitutionality of Kenya’s cybercrime law — legislation that could see him jailed for up to 10 years over a mistaken WhatsApp message. On February 27, a three-judge court of appeal bench is due to rule in a case brought…

Angolan journalist and lawyer Teixeira Cândido wants to know who targeted him with spyware, and he wants justice. “First and foremost, we must seek to find out who the entities are that have acquired these spyware tools,” Cândido told CPJ, as findings published by Amnesty International’s Security Lab show that a malicious link sent in…

For Congolese journalist Prince Cikala Mihigo, the first day of 2026 brought a brutal reminder of the risks of reporting: rebel soldiers beat and kicked him while questioning him about his work, leaving his face swollen and raw.   Cikala was assaulted at a checkpoint in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern city of Bukavu,…

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Rwanda to release all journalists imprisoned for their work and to investigate allegations that prison officials have mistreated and tortured journalists, in a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of Rwanda’s Fourth Cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on January 21. During the review, U.N….