Africa

Dakar, August 14, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Cameroonian authorities to release George Atabong Lekeaka, who has been held incommunicado since Monday for publishing a photo of security officers on patrol during clashes with separatist fighters. “George Atabong Lekeaka should not have been arrested for attempting to provide the public with security information,…

Nairobi, August 13, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ethiopian authorities to immediately release five journalists who have been in detention for three years awaiting trial, instead of pressuring them to admit to, and apologize for, taking part in a deadly insurgency in exchange for their freedom. Gobeze Sisay, Meskerem Abera, Genet Asmamaw, Dawit…

Dakar, August 13, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Gabonese authorities to reinstate the privately owned news site Info241, which was suspended by the country’s media regulator for relaying comments by an influencer about President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema and his entourage. “Deciding to shut down a 13-year-old media outlet is more an act of…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined #KeepItOn Coalition partners in urging Zambian authorities and telecommunication providers to ensure free and open internet access before, during, and after the country’s general election on August 13. In the letter, the coalition highlighted Zambia’s 2021 internet shutdown, when access to major social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter,…

Nairobi, August 6, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ethiopian authorities to stop their relentless campaign to shutter the Addis Standard, whose editor-in-chief Yonas Kedir was detained and assaulted and its newsroom raided and equipment destroyed, while also receiving an eviction notice in the last week. “These attacks on the Addis Standard and Yonas…

Kinshasa, August 6, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ugandan authorities to ensure the safety of exiled Congolese journalist John Zihindula Bwirabwanda, whose Ugandan home was broken into by armed men who threatened to kill him for posting news on social media. “It is shocking that Congolese journalist John Zihindula Bwirabwanda has been unable…

New York, August 3—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision by Mozambique’s constitutional court to strike down a decree that allowed the government to shut down the internet. In its July 31 ruling, the court declared unconstitutional several provisions of December 16’s Telecommunications Traffic Control Regulations Decree that allowed the government to monitor communications,…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined five other rights organizations in calling on the Ugandan government to enact legislative reform in support of human rights and to end repressive tactics in a report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of the country’s January 2027 Universal Periodic Review.  The UPR is a peer review mechanism…

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Tanzanian authorities to enact comprehensive reforms to support press freedom in a report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) ahead of the country’s November Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR is a peer review mechanism of the UNHRC, through which the human rights records of…

Lusaka, July 20, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Zambian authorities to immediately release journalist MacPherson Mukuka after four days in detention and not to criminalize journalism carried out in the public interest.  Mukuka, a journalist with state-owned Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), has been detained at Kabwata Police Station in the capital Lusaka…