Abidjan – Two journalists kidnapped in Burkina Faso and missing for more than a year have been freed, their families have told AFP.
The military junta, which seized power in a coup in September 2022, is accused of using a mobilisation decree to forcibly enrol critics into the army to fight jihadist rebels.
Adama Bayala, who worked for private TV station BF1, went missing late June 2024 while headed to meet a friend in the capital Ouagadougou.
“He is thin but doing well,” one of his relatives told AFP.
Omega Media’s editor-in-chief Alain Traore, better known as “Alain Alain”, was seized in July last year by armed men.
It’s great that the two boys have been released, but this act of trying to suppress the freedom of press is highly condemnable.
If you have nothing to hide, why are you so afraid of the Press covering what’s happening? It’s much better than all these toxic WhatsApp Universities. pic.twitter.com/5oovOoycFZ
— Adv. Siam Phaipi (@SiamPhaipi) September 14, 2025
The two men who were released at the start of the week are the latest journalists to be freed.
Five Burkinabe journalists were freed in July after being abducted and in some cases forcibly enrolled at the front.
However, Atiana Serge Oulon, who edits investigative bimonthly L’Evenement and was kidnapped from his home in June 2024, remains missing.
Activists also remain detained by the junta after making critical remarks about the government.
Dozens of military officers, including former gendarmerie chief of staff Evrard Somda, were also arrested for “conspiracy” or “attempting to destabilise republican institutions”.
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Source: AFP
