Africa

Civic space conditions in Africa South of the Sahara remain repressive. Forty-three of 50 countries and territories have obstructed, repressed or closed civic space. Over half of countries and territories, close to 70 percent of the population in Africa South of the Sahara, are rated as repressed. Civic space is open only in the island states of Cabo Verde and São Tomé e Príncipe, while Mauritius, Namibia and Seychelles have narrowed civic space, now joined by Botswana and Liberia.

Rating Overview

Eswatini has been downgraded from repressed to closed, as the government is clamping down on any form of opposition, including bans on public gatherings and widespread surveillance. HRDs and opposition members continue to be targeted and face attacks for calling for democracy in Africa’s only remaining absolute monarchy.

Ethiopia has been downgraded from repressed to closed, as the continuing armed conflict and imposition of state-of-emergency measures in parts of the country have resulted in serious violations of human rights and caused a decline in civic freedoms. HRDs, journalists and opposition members face serious challenges in their work, including physical and online surveillance, verbal harassment, intimidation and threats to try to make them stop their activities.

Kenya has been downgraded from obstructed to repressed following the government's brutal and ongoing crackdown since nationwide June and July protests sparked by a proposed Finance Bill, which sought to raise taxes and sharply further increase the cost of living amid unchecked government corruption. The government’s violent response caused the deaths of at least 60 unarmed protesters and police arrested at least 1,000 people. Abductions of protesters and online supporters of the protests have continued months after the protests, as security forces hunt down those they suspect of involvement, creating a chilling effect on civic freedoms.

In Botswana and Liberia, civic space upgrades from obstructed to narrowed reflect the fact that violations have notably decreased. Since Liberia’s second peaceful democratic transfer of power, when incumbent President George Weah conceded defeat to Joseph Boakai following elections in October and November 2023, the CIVICUS Monitor has documented fewer civic space violations, particularly in the areas of press freedom and peaceful assembly. A similar situation is noted in Botswana, with fewer violations documented. Civil society pushed back against a proposed executive-led constitutional review process due to its lack of meaningful public participation. Parliament subsequently rejected the Constitution Amendment Bill.

Top violations

In Africa South of the Sahara, the detention of journalists remained the most common civic space violation in the past year, as in previous years, followed by attacks on journalists, the detention of HRDs, the detention of protesters and censorship.

Journalists attacked and detained

The detention of journalists was documented in at least 21 countries in the region and attacks on journalists in at least 16 countries.

Authorities have detained journalists due to their reporting on corruption and on topics authorities deem sensitive or insulting. In some countries, such as Cameroon, the DRC, Nigeria and Somalia, authorities continued to arrest journalists as a tactic to try to intimidate and silence them. In Nigeria, authorities continued to arrest and prosecute journalists under the 2015 Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, despite its amendments in February 2024. For example, Foundation for Investigative Journalism reporter Daniel Ajukwu was arrested on 1 May 2024 for breaching the 2015 Cybercrimes Act in relation to his reporting on alleged corruption by an official of the presidency. He was granted bail after spending 10 days in detention.

In Cameroon, authorities use criminal provisions such as ‘spreading false news’, ‘insults’ and ‘inciting revolt’ to detain and prosecute journalists, and often tries them in military courts. On 6 February 2024, Bruno Bidjang, managing director of L’Anecdote, was arrested in Bafoussam over a video he posted criticising the arrest of a local socialite and urging the authorities to focus on issues such as corruption and electricity and water access. Bidjang was initially charged with ‘incitement to uprising’, ‘endangering state security’ and ‘incitement to insurrection’. In March 2024, a military judge sentenced him to six months in prison for ‘spreading false news’. Two other incarcerated journalists, Kingsley Fumunyuy Njoka and Amadou Vamoulké, were sentenced to 10 and 20 years in prison respectively. Both had been in detention for years.

The picture is similar in the DRC. In March 2024, a court in Kinshasa found renowned journalist Stanis Bujakera guilty of a series of charges, including ‘propagation of false rumours’, ‘forgery’ and ‘transmission of an erroneous message’, sentencing him to a six-month prison sentence and a fine. He had been detained since 8 September 2023 over an article published in Jeune Afrique, which did not name him as author, alleging that a report by the DRC’s National Intelligence Service claimed that military intelligence officers were involved in the kidnapping and murder of opposition politician Chérubin Okende Senga, who was found dead on 13 July 2023.

In Somalia, Journalists are frequently threatened and arrested, and in some cases killed. In January 2024, reporter Mohamed Abdi Ilig was arrested along with two colleagues after moderating an X/Twitter discussion hosted by MM Somali TV on a controversial memorandum of understanding between Ethiopia and Somaliland. Although Ilig’s colleagues were released without charge, Illig remained incarcerated for 43 days before he was acquitted and released.

Journalists continued to be arrested for criticising authorities or investigative reporting on sensitive topics such as exposing corruption. In Senegal on 1 October 2024, Cheikh Yerim Seck, founder of the Dakaractu news site and contributor to Jeune Afrique, was summoned, questioned, detained and charged with disseminating false news and defamation for having refuted Senegalese government figures on the economic situation inherited from the previous administration during a programme on 7TV. In Uganda, police arrested GrapeVine journalists Dickson Mubiru and Alirabaki Sengooba in June 2024 over investigative reports on a judicial conflict and an article exposing parliamentary corruption. They were charged with ‘publishing information without a broadcasting licence’, a regulation intended only for radio and television, and later released on bail. In Zambia, police arbitrarily detained journalist Thomas Allan Zgamo in August 2024 for two days on sedition charges for having called, on the Facebook page of media outlet Zambian Whistleblower, for the government to be transparent about the links between a property it had rented and President Hakainde Hichilema.

Military authorities in Niger, where media freedom is increasingly under threat, have also criminalised journalists. In April 2024, judicial police officers arrested Idrissa Soumana Maïga, editor of newspaper L’Enquêteur, over an article the newspaper published that cited and questioned allegations made by French media outlet Le Figaro that listening devices were installed in government buildings by Russian agents. Maïga was later charged with ‘undermining national defence’ under Niger’s Criminal Code.

Several journalists have been arrested In Burundi. On 3 March 2024, National Intelligence Service officers arrested La Nova Burundi journalist Sandra Muhoza for allegedly having made comments in a WhatsApp practitioners’ group discussing the distribution of machetes to the ruling party’s youth wing. She was reportedly subjected to beatings and other ill-treatment.

In the past year, several journalists were attacked and detained while covering protests. In Nigeria, at least 56 journalists were attacked, harassed or detained when covering the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests. In Mali, Yeri Bocoum, director of the Facebook news page YBC-Communication, disappeared after he covered an opposition protest on 7 June 2024. Malian state security services reportedly held Bocoum for 19 days before releasing him. Police arrested two Zambian journalists – Rodgers Mwiimba of Millenium TV and Innocent Phiri of KBN TV – in Kafue on 13 April 2024 as they covered a banned opposition protest. They were filming a clash between police and opposition leaders when arrested. They were subjected to physical abuse and questioned before they were released a few hours later.

The safety of journalists has been at risk from state and non-state sources around elections, including from members of armed groups and supporters of political parties. In Madagascar, at least nine journalists were injured when a police officer threw teargas and stun grenades at the feet of reporters who were covering an opposition protest in Antananarivo ahead of controversial presidential elections, which took place on 16 November 2023. In Mozambique, private security guards assaulted and threatened reporter Jorge Marcos and camera operator Verson Paulo of STV as they covered an event organised in Zambézia province by opposition party RENAMO in May 2024, ahead of the October 2024 general election. Several journalists were attacked in the run-up to the DRC’s general elections in December 2023, including RFI correspondent Pascal Mulegwa, who was punched and dragged into a gutter by supporters of President Felix Tshisekedi’s party.

Journalists were also attacked or detained in countries including Chad, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Togo.

Democracy activists were particularly targeted in Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali, countries under military rule. In Burkina Faso, democracy activists Bassirou Badjo and Rasmané Zinaba were abducted and taken to an unknown destination in February 2024. Badjo and Zinaba are among a dozen HRDs, journalists and political opponents who have been unlawfully conscripted to the military to fight Islamist armed groups due to the government misuse of its emergency law to silence dissent. In Guinea, democracy activists Mamadou Billo Bah and Oumar Sylla, also known as Foniké Mengué, of opposition coalition Front National pour la Défense de la Constitution were detained on 9 June 2024. Authorities have not revealed their exact location. A fellow activist, Mohammed Cissé, who was detained with the two but released a day after, said they were taken by security forces and subjected to torture. In Mali, activist and university professor Etienne Fakaba Sissoko was arrested on 25 March 2024 following the publication of a book criticising the alleged use of propaganda in the government’s public information campaigns. In May 2024, Sissoko was sentenced to two years in prison, one of which was suspended, and a fine of around US$4,900.

In Eswatini in July 2024, pro-democracy lawmakers Mthandeni Mduduzi Bacede and Mabuza Dube received severe prison sentences of 18 and 25 years respectively on terrorism and murder charges connected to protests in 2021 against King Mswati's regime. They had been in detention since July 2021.

Authorities in Equatorial Guinea, where civic space is closed, continued to arbitrarily detain HRDs and often subject them to torture in detention. On 1 August 2024, police arrested HRD Joaquín Elo Ayeto at his home in the capital, Malabo. Ayeto is accused of carrying out illegal activities through his civil society platform Somos+, which authorities say is not registered. He was reportedly first transferred to Black Beach prison and then Oveng Azem prison. Further, the whereabouts of human rights lawyer Anacleto Micha Ndong remained unknown as of April 2024. Ndong was arrested on 26 January 2024 and held in pretrial detention at Black Beach prison following a criminal complaint of outrage and calumny.

Authorities have also arrested HRDs in connection to protests or strikes. In Cameroon, Abdoulaye Math, president of human rights organisation Mouvement pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme, was summoned and held in custody in Maroua in February 2024, on accusations of contempt and organising a protest demonstration. In Nigeria, Joe Ajaero, a labour rights activist and head of the National Labour Congress trade union, was detained twice. Police first detained Ajaero on 1 November 2023 ahead of a mass protest and strike announced by the union in response to violations of workers’ rights in Imo State. They detained him again for two days on 9 September 2024 after he criticised the government over hiking petrol prices and reportedly said that union leaders would meet over strike action.

Human rights lawyers have also been targeted. In Angola, police officers placed human rights lawyer and civil society activist Zola Ferreira Bambi under house arrest on 5 January 2024, without an arrest warrant, and later escorted him to the police station, where they held him for several hours. Ferreira Bambi had been due to represent two HRDs in court that day and this prevented from doing so.

n Chad on 2 October 2024, police officers detained and later expelled US lawyer Reed Brody, who had been invited along with two colleagues by the US Embassy and the Centre for Development Studies and Training to present a book about the judicial pursuit of Chad’s former dictator Hissène Habré. Police officers invaded the venue and dispersed participants.

Protesters detained

Detention of protesters was documented in at least 15 countries in Africa South of the Sahara. As in previous years, many protests have taken place on a wide range of issues, including the high cost of living, the lack of basic service delivery, corruption and bad governance. Detention of protesters was often used to break up protests or dissuade people from joining protests.

In Madagascar on 27 August 2024, security forces arrested civil society activist Solonarivo Tsiazonaly for ‘unauthorised demonstration and disturbance of public order’. Tsiazonaly was involved in organising a protest in Tuléar against a possible reopening of the Base Toliara mining project after it was bought by an US-based international mining company. Opponents say its reopening would have dire impacts on the environment and health of local residents. Protesters attempted to gather on 27 August 2024 but security forces stopped them. Tsiazonaly was released after reportedly being forced to sign an undertaking promising to stop participating in ‘strikes’ against Base Toliara.

Police detained at least 45 protesters during protests against corruption and misuse of funds in Kampala, Uganda, on 23 July 2024 and charged them with ‘common nuisance’. Police also responded to the protests with violence. Ahead of the protests, President Yoweri Museveni warned protesters that they were ‘playing with fire’.

In Malawi, HRD Bon Kalindo was arrested along with others during a protest against the high cost of living, held in Zomba on 23 November 2023. Police used teargas to disperse the protest. In Accra, Ghana, Police arrested 49 people during the first day of #OccupyJulorbiHouse protests against worsening economic conditions and government mismanagement on 21 September 2024.

In Zambia, despite government promises to replace the outdated 1955 Public Order Act with a progressive Public Gatherings Bill, authorities continue to violate the right to peaceful assembly. In July 2024, four members of the Fix Zesco movement were arrested when police prevented a protest against power outages at the headquarters of public power company Zesco. The four were taken into custody on charges of charges of ‘idle and disorderly conduct’.

Some student protests were also met with arrests. In South Africa on 1 March 2024, police arrested 22 protesters when they dispersed a student protest outside the main campus at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein, Free State. The students protested against funding delays with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, resulting in a lack of funding for food, housing and study materials. In Zimbabwe in June 2024, police arrested 44 members of the Zimbabwe National Students Union, including the union’s president Emmanuel Sitima, after violently breaking up their meeting to discuss education policies. This action was part of the broader crackdown on opposition and dissent ahead of Zimbabwe’s hosting of the SADC summit.

In Guinea, police prevented a protest against media restrictions imposed by the military junta, planned for 18 January 2024 in the capital, Conakry. It had been organised by the Union of Press Professionals of Guinea, among others. Police arrested nine journalists and Sékou Jamal Pendessa, the union’s general secretary. Pendessa was charged with organising an unauthorised demonstration and was detained until 28 February 2024.

Countries of concern: violent crackdown on youth-led protests in Kenya and Nigeria

As highlighted above, mass protests led by young people took place in several countries, including Kenya and Nigeria, to highlight economic hardship, bad governance and corruption. In both countries, authorities responded violently, killing dozens of people.

In Kenya, the #RejectFinanceBill2024 movement gathered thousands on the streets in June 2024 to protest against the controversial Finance Bill and its heavy tax implications. Police used excessive and brutal force, including by deploying snipers to shoot peaceful and unarmed protesters, while other police officers, wearing plainclothes and facemasks and in unmarked vehicles, shot live ammunition and teargas directly at people, including medical personnel and journalists. National security and intelligence operatives arrested and abducted protesters, including social media influencers who had been vocal in supporting the protests, on allegations of leading and funding the protests. According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, as of 31 October 2024, at least 60 people had been killed and 71 cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances documented. While the government reported in September 2024 that at least 1,208 people had been arrested during the protests, and at least 132 were missing, civil society groups have estimated the numbers to be much higher. Bodies of some of those reported missing have been found in abandoned quarries, forests, rivers and mortuaries, showing signs of torture, with some mutilated and dismembered.

Thousands gathered across Nigeria from 1 to 10 August 2024 in the #EndBadGovernance protests against the high cost of living, economic hardship and endemic corruption. Security forces responded with excessive force, using live ammunition as well as rubber bullets and teargas, killing at least 22 people, including in Abuja, Borno, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa and Niger. Several states declared curfews in response to the protests. According to media sources, over 1,100 people were arrested. In September 2024, police in Abuja announced that some protesters arrested in relation to the protests, including minors, were being charged with conspiracy to commit treason, attempting to destabilise Nigeria, seeking to remove the president, waging war against the government and inciting mutiny. The crime of treason can carry the death penalty. President Bola Tinubu later ordered the minors to be freed and the treason charges against them to be dropped.

Media freedom in Africa on a downward spiral

*Covering countries south of the Sahara.