Burundi

Burundian authorities have failed to provide journalist Floriane Irangabiye with the necessary medical care she requires.

President Évariste Ndayishimiye’s administration is asked to investigate the disappearance of news website reporter Jean Bigirimana, who went missing 7 years ago.

Broadcast journalist Floriane Irangabiye is sentenced to 10 years in prison on spurious charge of “endangering the integrity of the national territory”.

Rwanda-based Burundian journalist Floriane Irangabiye is arrested by police upon her return to her home country; although she has not been formally charged, she is accused of working with armed opposition groups and espionage.

Three years after the BBC was suspended from broadcasting in Burundi, the ban has been lifted by the country’s media regulator.

As Burundi experiences a surge in COVID-19 cases, President Évariste Ndayishimiye accuses journalist Esdras Ndikumana of inflating figures.

The case of Burundian journalist Jean Bigirimana, who disappeared in 2016, remains unsolved.

A year into his rule, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye has taken several corrective measures, but has yet to make meaningful decisions to transform the restrictive media freedom and civic space.

The continent’s initially successful response to the pandemic was tainted by denialism, corruption and weaponisation of social media across several countries.

Burundi’s state-controlled awards illustrate the paradoxical media landscape in the country, as police scoop the top award while the print media category is awarded to a journalist in hiding as a way to flush him out.

Regional organisation AFEX is calling on Burundian authorities to reconsider the sentencing handed out to the #IWACU4 and unconditionally release the journalists.

Authorities in Burundi have expanded the suspension of the Voice of America, withdrawn the BBC’s operating licence and forbidden citizens from directly or indirectly providing information to the two institutions.

As the crisis in Burundi threatens to tip back into civil war with escalating killings of demonstrators and government opponents, at its epicentre is the calm figure of human rights defender Pierre Claver Mbonimpa.

Burundi’s landscape, prior to the referendum to revise its constitution, featured divisive language, hate speech, intimidation, threats and violence against the media, including the banning of broadcasting stations.