Burkina Faso: Rights groups urge release of disappeared journalist

It has been two years since Serge Oulon, an investigative journalist and editor was taken from his home in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital, by armed men claiming to be state agents.

An investigation by Reporters without Borders (RSF) has revealed that Oulon is in detention in a private property in the capital and has been subjected to torture.

His abduction came after a story exposing corruption in the security forces.

“Oulon has been specifically targeted for his journalistic work by the regime and was subjected to different kinds of abuses and detained without any contact with a lawyer or family members,” said Sadibou Marong, RSF’s Sub-Saharan Africa director.

“Oulon’s family and friends have the right to know what happened to him and obtain justice,” Marong added.

Rights organizations say Burkinabe security forces converted dozens of villas in Ouaga 2000, a neighborhood of Ouagadougou, as well as other properties on the outskirts of the capital into unofficial detention sites where they have secretly and unlawfully detained hundreds of people, including government critics, political opponents, and others perceived as enemies of the authorities.

Since Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power in a 2022 coup, Burkina Faso has suspended several media outlets – particularly foreign ones – accusing them of hampering junta attempts to tackle jihadist violence.

Burkina Faso authorities have also suspended political parties, student unions and members of the judicary, using a 2023 emergency law introduced to support counterinsurgency operations.

The International Federation for Human Rights has called for Oulon’s release.