Africa

Kinshasa, August 25, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on rebel authorities controlling part of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to lift the restrictions that prohibit media outlets in South Kivu province from broadcasting or publishing political content. Local regulatory authorities should also reverse their decision to suspend a Bukavu FM political program…

Dakar, August 21, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on Togolese authorities to drop the charges against French journalists Sebastian Perez Pezzani and Gaël Mocaër, and their Togolese fixer, Komi Mawufemo Vedomey, and to release Mocaër and Vedomey who have spent 26 days in detention since they were arrested July 27 while filming a documentary in northern Togo. On August 20, 2026,…

Kinshasa, August 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to restore mobile telecommunications and internet services that have been cut off for more than a month in the Fizi Territory, which includes the city of Baraka, in the eastern province of South Kivu. “The intensification of…

Update: After publication on August 14, George Atabong Lekeaka was released, according to his lawyer Emmanuel Aleambong Nkea. 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…

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,…