Introduction
As previously documented on the Monitor, Djibouti is one of the most repressive environments for independent actors in Africa. Recent constitutional changes further locked down the political system, and opposition parties boycotted the April 2026 presidential election. Civic space is virtually non-existent, as citizens attempting to report on the country’s situation independently, either as journalists or as human rights defenders, face severe repression.
Expression
In Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) World Press Freedom Index for 2026, Djibouti was ranked 167th out of 180 countries. RSF outlined how Djibouti’s media landscape remains “completely locked down” and almost exclusively limited to state-owned media, and how the government “deliberately slows down the Internet to restrict access to social media,” which are among the few places for free expression and access to information.
On 19th September 2026, South African investigative journalist Roshan Micah Reddy and local fixer Kooki Mahmoud went missing and were unreachable after arriving in Djibouti for a professional assignment. Reddy, who works for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), had arrived in Djibouti two days earlier. Both RSF and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed deep concern about their safety, within broader concerns about independent journalists in the country. On 22nd September, Reddy’s family announced that he had been found, saying that he and Mahmoud had been released without charge. They seem to have been in Djibouti’s intelligence custody, following a breach of “accreditation rules.” Reddy was deported from Djibouti.