In December 2023, IPI documented 20 threats to press freedom in five countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Censorship was the most common category of threats. DRC recorded the highest number of violations. State actors remain the main perpetrators, responsible for 95 percent of the recorded attacks on journalists and media.
In Mozambique, on December 14, journalist João Chamusse, known as a stern critic of the current government and co-founder of the online news platform Ponto por Ponto, was found dead outside his home in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. The police are reported to have arrested Nelson Jone Mulanda, a neighbor of the deceased journalist, after finding the journalist’s clothes in Nelson’s home. The motive for the murder is not yet known. Chamusse’s telephone and laptop were missing as of the time this incident was recorded.
In the DRC, on December 20, the day national elections were held, journalist Pascal Mulegwa, working with Radio France International (RFI), and a colleague whose name was withheld, were physically attacked while reporting on the election in a voting center in Kinshasa. Mulegwa’s colleague succeeded in escaping, while Mulegwa was surrounded by the sympathizers of the ruling party. As a result of the assault, Mulegwa was injured on his right foot and jaw and assailants took his phone and cash that he had on him.
In Guinea, authorities continued the previous month’s censorship trend. On December 6 and 9, 2023, the state media regulatory body, Haute Autorité de la Communication (HAC), ordered five television stations and one radio station – Espace FM, Espace TV, Evasion FM, Evasion TV, and Djoma Radio – from broadcasting Canal on “national security” grounds. It was unclear what specific programs might have prompted the ban. The HAC claimed its decision was not intended to silence the media concerned, but to address issues such as “the promotion of communal hatred, the escalation of social and political tensions, and the propagation of divisive discourse.”
On December 8, 2023, three journalists were arrested and released by the Sierra Leone security forces. Two French national journalists, Remi Carton and Paul Boyer, working with TV5Monde, and a third, local reporter Saidu Bah Awuko, were arrested for allegedly taking photographs of security forces without permission. The trio were questioned at the Cyber Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Sierra Leone Police. Their equipment – camera, SD Card, and smartphone – were confiscated before they were released to report the following day. The incident occurred when former President Bai Koroma was reporting to the police to assist with the investigation into what the government described as a failed coup attempt on November 26. The confiscated work equipment of the journalist, except the SD Card, was returned to the journalists. They were not charged.
