Human Rights Watch has raised the alarm over the sudden disappearance of three journalists and two prominent critics of the military junta in Burkina Faso. 

Serge Oulon, a director of an investigative newspaper, Adama Bayala and Kalifara Sere – both working as commentators on a private television had been declared missing since June this year. 

Their whereabouts have continued to raise concerns especially about enforced disappearances and possible unlawful conscriptions into the armed forces.

In a statement on Wednesday, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch, Ilaria Allegrozzi explained that the case of the missing journalists and critics appeared linked to a wave of repression by Burkinabè authorities, who have severely restricted the rights of dissidents. 

Mr Allegrozzi said the authorities of the country should urgently investigate and publicly report on the whereabouts of the journalists and prominent critics of the country’s military junta. 

“The military junta should take immediate action to locate and report on the three missing individuals and release them if they are wrongfully held. Arbitrary arrests, abductions, and enforced disappearances of journalists, activists, and dissidents have become the new normal in Burkina Faso,” he said. 

The group revealed that Mr Bayala, 45, a regular commentator on the private television channel BF1’s show Presse Échos had been missing since he left his office located in the 1,200 Logements neighbourhood in the country’s capital, Ouagadougou, at about 1 p.m. on June 28.

It noted that days before Mr Bayala was reported missing, a message posted on the pro-junta Facebook page Anonymous Élite Alpha threatened him, warning him that he “will be next.”

The Human Rights Watch quoted one of the close friends of the journalist as saying that, “Bayala is one of the few dissenting voices left in Burkina Faso, one who has not spared critical analysis of the decisions and actions of the military authorities. We spoke before the day of his abduction about the risks he faced. We knew he was in danger.”

Mr Oulon, 39, director of the bimonthly publication L’Événement (the Event), was abducted from his home in Ouagadougou by gunmen in civilian clothes.

He was said to have written an article denouncing the alleged embezzlement by an army captain of some 400 million CFA (US$660,000) that were part of a budget allocated to support the volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie), civilian auxiliaries of the Burkinabè armed forces. 

Also, Mr Séré, commentator on BFI’s TV show 7Infos, was reported missing after leaving a meeting with the Superior Council for Communication to return to his office in Ouagadougou.

According to Human Rights Watch, relatives and lawyers representing Messrs Bayala, Oulon, and Séré said they have searched for them in various police stations and gendarmerie brigades in futility.  

“Burkinabè journalists should not live in fear of abduction for doing their job,” said a Burkinabè journalist, whose name has been withheld for security reasons. 

“The authorities have succeeded in reducing access to public interest information to virtually zero by targeting journalists, limiting their ability to hold powerful actors to account,” it added. 

Abductions of Messrs Bayala, Oulon and Séré come amid growing reports that Burkinabè security forces have intimidated, arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, and unlawfully conscripted journalists, human rights defenders, political opponents, and dissenting voices. 

In early February, Human Rights Watch also reported on six other cases of abductions of activists and opposition party members. 

They are Rasmané Zinaba, and Bassirou Badjo, both members of the civil society group Balai Citoyen; Guy Hervé Kam, a prominent lawyer and coordinator of the political group Serve and Not be Served (Servir Et Non Se Servir); Ablassé Ouédraogo, chair of the opposition party Le Faso Autrement (the Alternative Faso).

Others are Daouda Diallo, a prominent human rights activist and secretary-general of the Collective against Impunity and Stigmatization of Communities (Collectif contre l’Impunité et la Stigmatisation des Communautés, CISC); and Lamine Ouattara, a member of the Burkinabè Movement for Human and Peoples’ Rights (Mouvement Burkinabè des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples).