Burkina Faso releases journalists and activist after illegal forced conscription

In early July 2025, authorities in Burkina Faso granted freedom to five media professionals and a human rights defender who had been unlawfully drafted into the military. This forced enlistment followed their public criticism of the ruling military junta. While their release marks a positive turn, it serves as a somber reminder of several others who have been missing since 2024, with no information regarding their current status or location.

On March 24, 2024, security forces in the capital city, Ouagadougou, detained Guezouma Sanogo, Boukari Ouoba, and Phil Roland Zongo—all prominent members of the Association of Journalists of Burkina (AJB). They also arrested Luc Pagbelguem, a reporter for the private station BF1, for speaking out against the junta’s crackdown on free expression. By April 2, a video emerged on social media showing Sanogo, Ouoba, and Pagbelguem in army fatigues, confirming fears of their forced conscription. Zongo‘s military service was only publicly verified at the time of his eventual release.

The pattern of repression continued on June 18, 2024, when Kalifara Séré, a commentator for BF1 TV, disappeared after attending a meeting with the Superior Council for Communication (CSC). The media regulator had interrogated Séré regarding his skepticism over the authenticity of official photographs of the head of state. It wasn’t until October 2024 that the government admitted he had been conscripted, along with journalists Serge Oulon and Adama Bayala. The current whereabouts of Oulon and Bayala remain unknown.

Civil society has also been targeted; on November 29, 2023, individuals in civilian clothes claiming to be from national intelligence abducted Lamine Ouattara from his residence. Ouattara is a member of the Burkinabè Movement for Human and Peoples’ Rights (MBDHP). His family later confirmed that he, too, had been subjected to illegal military enlistment.

Human Rights Watch has highlighted the junta’s exploitation of broad emergency laws to target and silence dissidents. This tactic involves the forced conscription of activists, journalists, and even members of the judiciary to suppress any form of opposition.

While sovereign states possess the authority to draft adult citizens for national defense, such processes must be transparent. Conscripts should be informed of the duration of their service and provided with legal avenues to challenge their recruitment. The government of Burkina Faso should immediately release all those still held under these illegal conditions and cease using military service as a weapon against the media and political critics.