Feature: The information frontline — Press freedom and the security crisis in the Sahel – ipi.media

Executive summary

Following a series of military coups in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, press freedom in the three Sahel countries has witnessed an increasingly downward trend. Independent journalism faces threats from both regime authorities as well as broader insecurity in the region from terrorist groups. Under the guise of countering terrorism and safeguarding national sovereignty, the military regimes have carried out arbitrary arrests of journalists, blocked or suspended media outlets, and even enacted forced military conscription of critics and dissidents. Journalists who report critically on the region’s security situation — which includes human-rights violations and the failure of the military regimes to bring the security situation under control — are especially targeted. The result is widespread self-censorship among the media and a vacuum of independent information on security and human-rights developments with regional and global consequences, which is instead being filled by state propaganda. 

Introduction and key findings

In the years since a series of military coups overthrew governments across Africa’s Sahel, the modest democratic progress the region had previously achieved has undergone a significant reversal, with serious implications for regional and global stability. Violent extremist groups have taken advantage of the political uncertainty and weakened governance that has come in the wake of coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to gain new footholds.

Major geopolitical upheavals and realignments have also contributed to regional insecurity, as the Sahel’s newly installed military leaders moved to terminate defense agreements with the U.S. and European partners and withdrew from regional forums for cooperation, including ECOWAS and the G5 Sahel in favor of a new regional bloc, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). 

Amid a vacuum of international involvement, Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization, has entrenched itself, advancing the Kremlin’s interests across the region. The Sahel’s military rulers have used the pretexts of sovereignty and the fight against terrorism to justify increasingly authoritarian rule, with dire outcomes for press freedom. Journalists who report critically on the region’s security situation — which includes human rights violations and the failure of the military regimes to bring the security situation under control — have faced a wide range of repressive attacks at the hands of both state and non-state actors.

According to IPI’s monitoring, state actors tend to be the primary perpetrators of violations of press freedom, often weaponizing cybercrime and national security laws to arrest, harass, and jail journalists who report on politically sensitive topics. IPI has also identified cases of terrorist groups kidnapping journalists and, in some cases, killing them.  

Foreign journalists have also come under increased threat as rising anti-Western sentiment in the region and growing ties with Russia and China have fueled a backlash against international reporting. Journalists affiliated with Western outlets that have reported critically on the region’s military regimes have been subjected to sudden deportations, and entire media houses have faced suspensions by state media regulatory bodies. Local media outlets and press associations have also faced crackdowns, with numerous local media houses ceasing their activities. 

As the space for independent reporting has narrowed among the Sahel countries, many journalists IPI spoke to for this report have turned to self-censorship to avoid provoking reprisals. Some have chosen to live and work in exile for their own safety. Others are forced into silence, circumventing sensitive issues – including the regimes’ claims about the security situation in the region and the fight against terrorism – to avoid detention and harassment. As one journalist from Mali told IPI, “We live in a police state where people are very wary of strangers and of expressing our opinions openly”.

The chilling effect created by this pervasive atmosphere of fear has resulted in a dangerous information gap in the Sahel, with both regional and global consequences. As the flow of critical news slows, an information blackout is created, enabling regime actors and violent extremist groups to carry out repression with few consequences. The crackdown also makes it difficult to assess the security situation in the region, with the military regimes repeatedly targeting journalists who report on attacks by terrorist groups or who question authorities’ handling and claims related to security developments. 

Civilians will be left increasingly isolated and vulnerable, with few channels for accessing lifesaving information, while local and international watchdogs will struggle to document human rights abuses and hold perpetrators accountable. Outside actors, principally Russia and China, have already taken advantage of the information vacuum – as well as growing anti-Western sentiment – to further their own interests in the region via disinformation and propaganda. 

With this report, IPI hopes to raise awareness among the international community about the increasingly dire conditions for independent journalism in the Sahel. Unless urgent action is taken to address the state of press freedom in the region, the loss of independent reporting risks plunging the region into deeper insecurity, authoritarianism, and unchecked repression as millions are left without access to independent, quality news and information. 

The data highlighted in this report is the result of IPI monitoring on attacks and threats to press freedom across the Sub-Saharan region, including the Alliance of Sahel States – Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. IPI also spoke directly with individual journalists across the region as well as sources within local and regional press groups, who described the risks and dangers they have personally faced in conducting critical journalism. Due to the threats these journalists face, their names have been kept anonymous in this report.

Arrests and jailings: Abuse of cybercrime laws

The military regimes in the Sahel region have weaponized the law to arrest, harass, and jail journalists who report on politically sensitive topics. Cybercrime laws in particular have emerged as a potent weapon to target unwanted reporting, mirroring a global trend. IPI research has previously shown that governments worldwide are abusing overly broad cybercrime laws – which are often enacted under the guise of protecting national security or combating harmful speech such as disinformation and hate speech – to target and censor the press.

Among the Sahel countries, Niger has emerged as the leading jailer of journalists in recent times. Authorities in Niger have frequently invoked the country’s cybersecurity law to harass and imprison journalists, especially those reporting on security-related topics. Prior to the coup, the government of President Mohamed Bazoum amended the cybercrime law to remove prison sentences for offences such as defamation. However, under the military regime, these fragile gains were scrapped and replaced with newer, harsher penalties. 

Examples include:

• In January 2026, DW journalist Gazali Abdou was arrested and charged with “dissemination of reports that could disturb public order” under Niger’s cybercrime law. His arrest followed his reporting on the deplorable conditions in which Nigerian refugees are living in the capital of Niamey.
• Journalists Ibro Chaibou, Youssouf Seriba, and Oumarou Abou Kané have been jailed since last November on accusations of “attempting to disturb the public order” under Niger’s cybercrime law.
• In May, Hamid Mahmoud, Massaouda Jaharou, and Mahaman Sani – journalists with Sahara FM in Agadez – were arrested and detained for broadcasting an article on the termination of cooperation between the Russian paramilitary group Wagner and the Nigerien authorities. Massouda Jaharou was released, but the two others were charged with “undermining national defence” and “conspiracy against state authority”.

This trend has extended to the rest of the region. Mali’s cybercrime law has frequently been weaponized to target journalists and critics on accusations of undermining state credibility, defamation, and false news. Those targeted can face up to 10 years in prison.

Mali’s cybercrime enforcement unit targeted journalists Alfousseni Togo, Issiaka Tamboura, Youssou Traoré, and Kassim Traoré over online publications that were critical of Mali’s judicial system, including questioning a minister’s claim about public trust in the judiciary. Togo was arrested on charges of defamation, insult, and undermining the state’s reputation and sentenced to a fine and an eight-month suspended prison sentence. In July 2025, Tamboura, Traoré and Kassim were charged with online defamation by the authorities’ cybercrime unit following a complaint by a local magistrate, who objected to their social media coverage of an altercation between the magistrate and a prosecutor. While Youssouf Traoré and Tamboura were acquitted, Kassim Traoré was given a six- month suspended sentence and a fine.

In another case, journalist Boubacar Traoré of the newspaper L’Empire was detained on defamation charges under Mali’s cybercrime law after writing about a land dispute involving the owner of the Petro-Bama company. 

Journalists in Burkina Faso have also faced legal retaliation. In 2025, several journalists were detained and interrogated by the security forces in connection with a leaked interview with military leader Ibrahim Traore to commemorate the third anniversary of the military coup.

Media blackout: Blocking and suspension of foreign and local media outlets

Following the military takeovers, authorities in the three countries have sharply curtailed the independence of media regulatory bodies, which have in turn been used to critical media coverage, including around security issues and human rights violations.

In Burkina Faso, authorities modified the law to allow the head of state to directly appoint the president of the Higher Council for Communication (CSC), scrapping the previous system by which the CSC president had been elected by his peers. The law ended a period of relative independence of the CSC. In January 2026, authorities merged the CSC with the Data Protection Authority (FIL), setting the stage for tighter control over the new combined institution. 

Last September, the military authorities in Niger created a new, state-controlled media regulatory body, the Observatoire Nationale de la Communication (ONC), replacing the previous Conseil Supérieur de la Communication (CSC), an independent body. 

In Mali, in February 2025, the authorities adopted two decrees that sharply increased media license fees by 900%, which was seen as an attempt to coerce local media to toe the line of state-controlled media narratives. 

In parallel, regulatory authorities in the three countries have suspended both local and foreign media, especially French and other Western media outlets. In most cases, the media were targeted for critical coverage of the military regimes as well as security challenges and reports on alleged human rights violations.

Mali:

• Radio France Internationale (RFI) and France 24 were suspended in 2022 for reporting on alleged killings of civilians by the armed forces.
• LCI (La Chaîne Info) has faced several suspensions, including a two-month ban in 2024 after authorities accused it of broadcasting “false accusations” of alleged atrocities committed by the Malian armed forces and Russian partners. Both it and TF1 were blocked over their coverage of a fuel blockade imposed by an al-Qaeda-linked armed group in 2025. Both channels are still blocked.
• France 2 was banned for four months in 2024 over its reporting on the security situation after authorities accused it of “glorifying terrorism” by comparing the strength of armed terrorist groups to Mali’s armed forces.
• TV5Monde has faced multiple sanctions as well. In September 2024, the channel was suspended for three months following a report on civilian deaths from drone strikes in northeast Mali. In May 2025, authorities suspended the outlet until further notice for “flagrant manipulation” of public opinion following coverage of a political party demonstration.
• In January 2026, authorities banned the sale and distribution of Jeune Afrique, which followed the pan-African magazine’s coverage of jihadist activity as well as the recent fuel crisis.
• Authorities in Mali also suspended local outlet Joliba TV for six months in 2024, following a complaint filed on November 12 by the media regulatory body in Burkina Faso against the outlet. Burkina Faso authorities objected to comments made by Issa Kaou N’Djim, a Malian political figure who had previously supported Mali’s leader, Colonel Assimi Goïta, before distancing himself.  D’Djim had called into question “the umpteenth attempt to destabilize Burkina Faso,” claiming that it was “nothing more than a fabrication”.

Burkina Faso:

Access to several foreign broadcasters (radio and television) was blocked over those broadcasters’ critical coverage:

• As in Mali, multiple French media outlets have been suspended. Radio France Internationale (RFI) has been suspended since December 2022 for its coverage of terrorist activity in the country. France 24 was suspended in March 2023 for reporting on an interview with the head of a local al-Qaeda affiliate. Authorities accused RFI of being a “mouthpiece” of terror groups, an accusation that the outlet rejected. LCI (La Chaîne Info) was suspended in July 2023 for broadcasting “false information” for its reporting on the volatile security situation in the country. All three media outlets remain inaccessible in Burkina Faso.
• Authorities blocked access to Jeune Afrique in 2023, accusing the publication of attempting to discredit the armed forces after reporting on tensions within the military.
• Multiple international news outlets were indefinitely blocked in April 2024 after covering a report by Human Rights Watch that alleged mass civilian killings by the country’s armed forces. The outlets blocked included BBC, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, The Guardian, and Le Monde. Many of these outlets remain blocked. 
• Local radio broadcaster Omega FM was suspended twice, in August 2023 for hosting a critic of the military coup in Niger and again in August 2025 after a publication on Facebook, deemed to be ‘’malicious and discourteous remarks directed at the Burkinabe authorities’’ by the regulatory body, following the death of a pro-military regime supporter in Cote d’Ivoire.

Niger:

• Authorities blocked Radio France Internationale and France 24 following the 2023 military coup.
• The BBC was suspended for three months in December 2024 for “spreading fake news” after the outlet reported on attacks by jihadist groups that reportedly killed soldiers and civilians.

In addition to media bans, the authorities have also expelled individual foreign journalists. Burkina Faso expelled French journalists  Sophie Douce and Agnès Faivre from Le Monde and Libération, respectively. Libération tied the expulsion to its investigation into a video showing the killing of children at a military barracks. In Mali, Benjamin Roger, a French reporter for Jeune Afrique, was expelled in February 2022, less than 24 hours after arriving in Bamako. Authorities cited a lack of proper accreditation, despite his holding a valid visa. 

Cross-border repression

Notably, the Sahel region has also seen a cross-border crackdown, with journalists targeted for their reporting or commentary on friendly neighbouring military regimes. This has included charging journalists with “insulting” foreign heads of state. Examples include:

• In March 2026, Malian journalist Youssouf Sissoko and the editor of the newspaper L’Alternance was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine for criticising Niger’s military leader, General Abdourahamane Tiani. 
• In May 2025, Malian journalist Seydou Oumar Traore was sentenced to one year in prison after criticising Guinean military leader Mamadou Doumboya.
• In November 2024, Joliba TV in Mali was suspended after a complaint by Burkina Faso authorities.

Journalist safety under threat: Kidnappings and forced conscription

The security threat for journalists working in the Sahel region from non-state actors – primarily jihadist groups operating in the area – continued to deteriorate following the military coups.

The kidnapping of journalists remains a strong concern, especially in Mali, though the concern is not new. In 2013, French journalists Ghislain Dupont and Claude Verlon of RFI were kidnapped and killed in northern Mali. The full circumstances surrounding their killing are still not clear, and IPI recently called on French authorities to declassify remaining documents to advance justice for Dupont and Verlon.

In November 2023, the Islamic State in the Sahel group abducted two journalists of Radio Coton d’Ansongo, Saleck Ag Jiddou and Moustaph Koné, while a third journalist, Abdoul Aziz Djibrilla, was killed in the attack. The two journalists are still believed to be in captivity. In October 2025, a terrorist group, believed to be the al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group JNIM, kidnapped two journalists, Daouda Koné and Salif Sangaré, of the Malian state broadcaster ORTM, in northern Mali. They were freed at the end of December. In another case, journalist El Bachir Thiam was kidnapped in May and later released in September. State security forces are suspected of having been responsible for his forced disappearance.

In Burkina Faso, journalists have also been subject to enforced military conscription. In 2023, the military regime issued a decree in response to intensifying attacks by terrorist groups, allowing the state to forcibly conscript civilians. Authorities have used the decree to target journalists and critics of the military government. 

At least seven journalists have been forcibly conscripted and sent to fight terrorist groups after reporting critically on the military authorities’ handling of the insecurity challenges. In July 2025, several journalists, including the president of the Burkina Faso Journalists Association, returned home after having been forcibly conscripted. The fate of two journalists believed to have been conscripted – Serge Oulon and Moussa Serab – remains unknown, underscoring the risks involved.

Pressure on civil society: Shuttering of press associations

Military authorities in all three countries have ramped up pressure on civil society groups that defend press freedom and freedom of expression.

In Niger, authorities suspended Maison de la Presse, a local press association that represents over 30 media organizations, from conducting all forms of activities.

In Burkina Faso, authorities dissolved the Burkina Faso Journalists Association in March 2025, accusing it of failing to comply with the 2015 law governing associations. Early this year, Burkina Faso also dissolved all political parties.

In Mali, the Maison de la Presse (Press House) came under extensive government pressure after criticizing a directive by the media regulatory body ordering media outlets not to report on the activities of political parties. While Maison de la Presse remains operational, its capacity to act as a press freedom watchdog has been severely weakened.

Call to action

Amid this deteriorating situation for journalism in the Sahel countries, international pressure is urgently needed to ensure that the authorities in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso take steps to respect media freedom and uphold their obligations to protect journalist safety. 

These steps must include:

• Ending all harassment – including arrests and jailing – of journalists in response to their reporting.
• Reforming existing legislation – especially cybercrime laws – to implement safeguards against abuse.
• Allowing both local and international media to freely report on developments of public and international concern without fear of retaliation.
• Rescinding bans on local and foreign media outlets and journalists.
• Restoring the independence of media regulatory bodies.
• Investigating all forms of attacks on journalists and holding those responsible to account. 
• Allowing civil-society organisations, including those working to protect the press, to operate freely.