The year 2022 is particularly dark for West African journalists whose freedoms have been threatened and restricted on several occasions.

In Senegal, the journalist and editor of the website Dakar Matin, Pape Alé Niang, was arrested on Sunday 6 November for disclosing information not made public by the competent authority and likely to harm national defence, concealing administrative and military documents and disseminating false news likely to discredit public institutions.

In Mali, journalist-blogger Malick Konaté has been the victim of threats and harassment since 31 October 2022 after the broadcast of an investigation entitled “Ligne Rouge” by the French channel BFM TV on the private military company Wagner. Mr Konaté, in his capacity as a freelance image reporter, conducted interviews for the channel on the Yerewolo association, which promotes political relations between Mali and Russia. Since the broadcast of the BFM TV documentary, he has been the subject of a smear and hate campaign on social media, putting his life and that of his family in danger.

Also in Mali, the television channel Joliba TV News created in 2021 was suspended on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 for two months by the High Authority for Communication (HAC) after the broadcast of a critical editorial by Malian journalist Mohamed Attaher Halidou on the management of the political transition by the junta in power.

AfricTivistes recalls that the right to freedom of expression is protected by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The African Union Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa in its point thirteen (13) recalls that “freedom of expression should not be restricted solely on grounds of public order or national security, unless there is a real risk of imminent threat to a legitimate interest and a direct causal link between the threat and the expression.” 

According to the principles of the African Union’s African Commission on Human & Peoples’ Rights, “no one should be subject to sanction for providing information in good faith about conduct that is unlawful or that discloses serious threats to health, safety or the environment except where the application of sanctions serves a legitimate interest and is necessary in a democratic society”.

AfricTivistes deplores this alarming assessment of the state of freedom of journalists and media in West Africa. We strongly condemn these attempts to gag media actors. These are clear signs of democratic backsliding in the countries of the region.

Furthermore in Senegal, journalist and columnist Pape Sané working for the Walf TV group, who is known for being highly critical of the government of President Macky Sall, claims to have been followed on 13 November by suspicious individuals in a black four-wheel drive vehicle. He claims to have “escaped a murder attempt”.

In the Republic of Guinea, on 2 November 2022, the association “Presse Solidaire” recorded eight (8) cases of attacks against journalists so far this year.

In Côte d’Ivoire, the editor of the newspaper Le Panafricain, Barthelemy Tehin, was placed under judicial supervision on 5 October 2022 after reporting on alleged corruption involving a customs officer. A few days later, on 10 October, the director of radio Poufire Fm, Hamed Kassambara, was arrested for insulting and defaming state authorities on social media.

On 19 October 2022 in Burkina Faso, the media group Oméga Médias informed the public that it had received several recordings of serious and direct threats against its staff and an obvious desire to set their premises ablaze.

In Nigeria, in July, Premium Times Newspaper reporter Omoniyi Feranmi was arrested in Ekiti State, southwestern Nigeria, while reporting on the recent gubernatorial elections in the state. 

In Guinea Bissau, in February 2022, armed men attacked the premises of Capital FM, a private radio station, which is considered highly critical of the government of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo.

In Niger, on 3 January 2022, Moussa Aksar, Publishing Director of the newspaper L’Événement, and freelance journalist Samira Sabou were respectively given two-month and one-month suspended prison sentences for having published, in May 2021, an investigation that “presented” Niger as a “central hub” of hashish trafficking in the region. They denounce the traffickers’ close links with some of the country’s political and military elite.

This spiral of violence and harassment against journalists has become really worrying. AfricTivistes therefore strongly condemns these serious obstacles to press freedom and recalls that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the Constitutions of the various countries in the sub-region and by the fundamental international texts and conventions ratified by the respective West African States.

AfricTivistes calls on the African authorities to protect all media professionals in the exercise of their profession and urges them to guarantee the physical and moral integrity of the above-mentioned journalists so that they can continue to exercise their profession freely without threat. 

We call on the African Union (AU) and ECOWAS in accordance with the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression to take the threats seriously and to do more to protect journalists. 

We call on African civil society organisations to work together to protect the African media sector in order to consolidate democracy in Africa, which is the only guarantee of peace and stability in the continent.