One month. That is the new deadline for learning the fate of Burundian journalist Sandra Muhoza of the online media outlet La Nova. The decision is scheduled following her appearance on Friday, February 20th, at the Ngozi Court of Appeal. Nearly two years after her imprisonment, this mother of three had been sentenced to four years in prison. She has appealed, but time and the harsh conditions of detention appear to have taken their toll on her health. Today, Sandra Muhoza struggles to walk with the aid of a crutch due to an illness that is consuming her and weakening her day by day. Locked up in the women’s prison in Ngozi, in the north of the country, she is still unable to receive adequate treatment, even though, according to her relatives, she needs urgent surgery. Ukweli Coalition Media Hub was present at her last court appearance.
By Ukweli Coalition Media Hub
After more than two hours of hearings in a packed courtroom, Sandra Muhoza appeared physically weakened, walking with a crutch but ready to defend herself: “I am innocent,” she repeated throughout the hearing of her appeal, which took place on 20 February at the Court of Appeal in Ngozi, in the north of the country, recalling that “she was forced to sign papers incriminating her in an intelligence service cell in Bujumbura at 2 a.m. on the day of her arrest, while she was blindfolded”. She then went on to explain the reason for her arrest: “It all started with me and other members of a WhatsApp group of journalists making comments about a speech given by Firmin Sinzoyiheba in 1996, when he was Minister of Defence, in which he condemned the distribution of machetes and rifles to the population by certain high-ranking officials in the country.” Comments made because of an almost similar topic circulating on social media right now, that of a possible distribution of machetes to the Imbonerakure, youth of the ruling party, by the regime.
Sandra was arrested in April 2024 and then sentenced on 16 January 2026 to four years in prison and a fine of two hundred thousand Burundian francs (approximately 67 US dollars) by the Ngozi High Court, where she was transferred on 26 September 2025 after more than a year and a half in Mpimba prison in Bujumbura, the economic capital, accused of “undermining territorial integrity and racial hatred” in a trial deemed unfair by several voices and organisations, including the Burundian Union of Journalists (UBJ), which described the sentence as “a serious violation of human rights and press freedom, especially since the charges against the journalist appear to be without solid foundation”.
Judith Basutama, secretary general of the UBJ, explains that “accusing Sandra Muhoza of undermining state security for messages exchanged with colleagues in a WhatsApp group has no credible legal basis. It is difficult to understand how a journalist, who is also ill, can be considered a threat to state security. This charge is often used in similar contexts to silence voices deemed disruptive, in the absence of any clearly established offence.” For her, “this conviction reflects a clear desire on the part of the Gitega authorities to silence media professionals, making Sandra Muhoza an example to deter all Burundian journalists, in violation of freedom of the press and freedom of opinion”. This does not help the government, whose “image is already tarnished by numerous other cases of human rights violations. It should be noted that the President of the Republic now holds the presidency of the African Union.”
“A trial that violates Burundian law”
“This case presents several irregularities with regard to the guarantees provided for by Burundian law,” says Jeanne d’Arc Zaninyana, lawyer and president of the Movement of Women and Girls for Peace and Security in Burundi (MFFPS), who points out that “Sandra Muhoza’s first conviction was handed down by a court that was subsequently declared territorially incompetent by the Court of Appeal. Under Burundian law, such a decision renders the initial proceedings null and void and, in principle, requires the release of the person concerned. However, Sandra Muhoza remained in detention under a new warrant, despite this judicial nullity.” She adds: “This also raises serious concerns under international human rights law, to which Burundi is a party. Her detention after the Court of Appeal overturned the first proceedings amounts to arbitrary detention, which is prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to liberty and security of person. When proceedings are declared null and void by a competent court, continued detention without a clear legal basis contravenes this principle.”
Beyond being deprived of her freedom, Sandra, separated from her three children, is now fighting an additional battle for her physical and psychological health. “When she went to a hospital in Bujumbura to be diagnosed, the scan revealed a defect in her spine. The test results showed that she needed hip surgery,” reveals a relative, who points out that Sandra now suffers from severe lower back pain, forcing her to walk with a crutch. This diagnosis was confirmed by Eric Ntibandetse, one of her lawyers, who was contacted by Ukweli Coalition Media Hub.
A situation aggravated by the conditions of her detention, which also affected her psychological health, according to a relative: “We have learned that Sandra is under surveillance even inside the prison. She has chosen to retreat into almost total silence, preferring to stay away from other inmates in order to avoid any trouble. Traumatised, she sometimes even refuses to see visitors today.”
“As of now Sandra is the only female journalist being arbitrarily detained in sub-Saharan Africa.”
This reminder comes from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which, when contacted by Ukweli Coalition Media Hub, highlighted the absurd nature of the case: “In December 2024, Sandra Muhoza was sentenced to 21 months in prison in the first instance. With the recent verdict, the journalist’s sentence has therefore doubled,” said Camille Montagu, a researcher at RSF’s Sub-Saharan Africa desk, before commenting on the regime’s deaf ear to multiple calls for the journalist’s release: “At a press conference held on 1 December, the Head of State was asked about the possibility of a presidential pardon for Sandra Muhoza. He seemed completely unaware of the journalist’s fate. This shows the authorities’ total disregard for the multiple calls for Sandra’s unconditional release and, more broadly, for press freedom in the country. Unfortunately, Sandra is not the first female journalist to be imprisoned in Burundi. Floriane Irangabiye also spent nearly two years in prison before being released in August 2024. These arbitrary detentions allow the authorities to keep the rest of the profession under pressure.”
The new verdict is expected on 20 March. Between hope and pessimism, Eric Ntibandetse, one of the journalist’s lawyers, hopes that the recent court appearance will be the last. “We remain hopeful that she will finally be released,” he said after the hearing. Published by the Committee to Protect Journalists in December 2025, no fewer than 127 African female journalists wrote a joint letter expressing their solidarity with Sandra Muhoza and demanding her release.
PS: A few hours after the publication of our report on Sandra Muhoza’s detention, the journalist was provisionally released. This was a relief for her family, but also for journalists’ rights organizations, which nevertheless continue to demand her full release and the annulment of her conviction.
Thierry Banga Lole, a journalist and cameraman working in Bunia was fatally attacked by unknown individuals on 28 December 2025. In response to this killing, organizations defending journalists’ rights have called for an independent, credible, and transparent investigation, citing this incident as evidence of the multiple challenges journalists continue to face, ranging from ordinary crime to state violence. The police, meanwhile, claim that the killing was the result of an attack by bandits that went wrong.
By Ukweli Coalition Media Hub
On the night of December 28–29, 2025, in the heart of Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Radio-Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC) journalist and cameraman Thierry Banga Lole was fatally attacked at his home, located in the Hoho neighborhood of Mbunya commune.
This killing happened at a time of heightened security, tensions and militarization of the provincial administration. No valuables were taken by the assailants. Only bloodstains and machete wounds on the victim’s head. From early on, the authorities framed the incident as the result of a robbery, as Bunia is a city regularly plagued by nighttime attacks and armed violence.
According to the official version provided by the Congolese National Police (PNC), Lole was attacked by bandits armed with bladed weapons. “Two of the four suspects in a targeted operation have already been arrested,” announced the PNC’s urban commander in Bunia, Senior Commissioner Gérard Abeli Mwangu, on January 1, 2026. Two weeks later, on January 13, 2026, all four alleged assassins were officially presented to the military governor of Ituri by the provincial commissioner of the Congolese National Police, Commissioner Ngo Isengelo.
“A few weeks ago, the city was shaken by the assassination of a journalist. According to the police, the investigation into this crime led to the arrest of four suspects initially, which then led to the arrest of a dozen more people. Among those presented, several are soldiers,” Senior Commissioner Gérard Abeli Mwangu later told the military governor.
However, organizations that defend journalists’ rights do not believe this narrative. For Journalists in Danger (JED) and the National Union of the Press of Congo (UNPC), this death is a symptom of the pressure that media in the east of the country faces, where, in their words, “coverage of security, military, and political issues remains particularly sensitive.” The two organizations organized a protest march in Bunia, which ended in front of the governor’s office. The governor said that investigations were already underway, and the results would be made public.
Born on October 7, 1989, in Bibwa, Thierry Banga Lole began his career as a cameraman in the early 2010s before being recruited in 2018 as a staff member at RTNC, the national television station. He was a father of five children, and was known for his discretion, having been called upon on several occasions to cover official activities and community events, and to make occasional trips to high-risk areas.
A journalist whose name had appeared in a military court file
In early 2025, Lole’s name appeared in a case handled by the military justice system. He was suspected of having ties to the Convention for the Popular Revolution (CRP) militia, created in March 2025 by Thomas Lubanga, a close family member. He was then placed under judicial supervision and required to sign in regularly. His assassination occurred while he was banned from leaving Bunia, a restriction that had lasted more than eight months. The investigation lasted several months but yielded no results. According to one of his colleagues, the case was closed in November. Thierry was also suspended from his duties at RTNC, but at the time of his death, he had been reinstated, as Benx Katonji, provincial director of RTNC in Ituri, confirmed when contacted by Ukweli.
According to multiple local sources, Thierry was also among the founders of the WhatsApp group “La Voix de l’Ituri” (The Voice of Ituri), a popular forum where journalists, civil society members, and political actors often commented critically on provincial governance, security management, and actions by the authorities during the state of siege.The WhatsApp group shared the same name as an online media outlet, lavoixdelituri.net, that Lole was known to have co-founded.
“It was a group he was forced to shut down after appearing before the military prosecutor,” a colleague confirmed. However, to date, nothing suggests a direct link between his journalism work and his assassination. Still, several local actors believe he had attracted unwanted attention, given how visible the WhatsApp forum was in a politically sensitive area. “Since that episode, he kept saying he no longer felt safe,” a close friend recalled.
“The military does not share information. In a context like ours, under a state of siege, it is always difficult to assess the seriousness of the danger facing a colleague or a loved one. Military courts play a central role in maintaining public order, and this type of proceeding is sometimes far from trivial,”another colleague commented.Ukweli unsuccessfully tried to reach Colonel Magistrate Kumbu Ngoma Jean Baptiste, Attorney General of the Superior Military Prosecutor’s Office in Ituri, who local sources said was in charge of the late journalist’s case.
Ituri has been a state of siege for several years, with a military governor from the FARDC and an administration largely controlled by the security forces. Officially, this measure is intended to curb violence by armed groups. “In reality, targeted killings, armed attacks, and settling of scores remain frequent, including in urban areas,” says Dieudonné Lossa, coordinator of Ituri Civil Society. Journalists are not spared. In this area, media representatives say that attacks against journalists are on the rise.
The Provincial Civil Society Coordination Group points out that several recent murders remain unsolved, hinting at a state of chronic impunity. “The population is tired of impunity,” warns Dieudonné Lossa.
At Thierry’s funeral on January 5, Sylvie Musoke, a member of the National Union of the Press of Congo (UNPC)’s Ituri Section executive committee, categorically stated, “Journalism is not a crime. No journalist should die for doing their job.” With her voice breaking, Musoke went on to say, “You can kill the man, but you cannot kill the truth. The camera may fall, but the light will not”. Also speaking at the funeral, Freddy Upara, JED focal point member, reminded those present that killing a journalist is an attempt to silence the truth.
UNPC, JED, and other journalist and media support organizations in the region are calling for an independent, credible, and transparent investigation into the killing.
Franck* (a pseudonym for security reasons) is an investigative journalist based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a region plagued by several armed groups, including the M23 movement, which currently controls a large part of the territory. Franck’s continued practice of journalism is fraught with peril. Having lost loved ones during the various armed conflicts, he is now forced to practice “anonymous journalism” for his own safety, not to mention the daily pressure he faces to join the armed groups. A testimony.
By Armel-Gilbert Bukeyeneza
Founding Director of Ukweli Coalition Media Hub
It was a black day in his career. A day when everything almost changed, when he was tempted to throw down his camera and take up weapons. Franck* (his real name has been changed) was still a young reporter, 26 years old, with three years of experience, when his newsroom sent him to cover an attack in 2021 that had just occurred in his village in eastern DRC. Franck was born and raised in war, one might say. He had seen and endured everything, “too much”, considering his age. But this time, he had no idea what awaited him. While his village counted its dead, and he, nervous but focused, captured images of the terrible attack, of children dying and bodies still bleeding from the blasts, a friend pats on his shoulder. “Can’t you see you’re photographing your own cousin?” The pointed warning falls on deaf ears. Franck remains impassive. He snaps shot after shot with the cool composure of a war correspondent. His friend is forced to wrest the camera from him. “The body lying in front of you is your own cousin!” Words as sinister as they are unexpected, bringing Franck to the brink of fainting while his friend suggests he steps back – in vain. He is forced to pull Franck by the arm and find him a chair to rest. The day before, just under twenty hours earlier, Franck and his cousin had spent the evening with their family, having drinks and dinner together.
“Can you imagine covering a bomb attack where almost half of the twenty victims (eight wounded and one dead) are members of your family? For the first time, I doubted the ability of journalism to bring any change to my community. I felt so powerless that I was ready to take up arms and fight,” he confesses today. Against all odds, Franck ended up becoming an investigative journalist, unfortunately forced by circumstances to work anonymously, and is now a journalist for a community media outlet. When meeting him during a training session, he seems more determined than ever. Calmly, he first offers a slight smile whenever asked to comment on the news in his country. A smile as mysterious as it is revealing. “It’s not easy, man,” is his go-to opening line, whenever he wants to deliver a harsh truth about the practice of journalism in his region. “We have several journalists who have joined the various rebel movements. It’s the rebel leaders themselves who come looking for us, mainly to help them with PR to legitimize their taking up arms. And it’s sometimes hard to refuse. Some of these leaders are old school friends. Most of the groups they lead claim to be defending our communities and ethnic groups, and some journalists sometimes fall into these traps. Furthermore, these rebel leaders may think you know too much about them. In such cases, turning your back on them can prove very risky”.
And what about Franck himself ? “Oh, man! I’ve been approached several times. And it doesn’t stop.” Franck adds another, well-known fact: “These groups have access to the country’s resources. They control mining operations and are involved in all sorts of illegal trafficking. They’re rich. When you know the financial state of the media and journalists in the DRC, you’ll understand why their offers can sometimes be hard to refuse. Personally, I spent three years earning less than ten dollars a month in a newsroom. In the DRC, a journalist is easy to buy. You understand why they’re being used as propaganda tools to spread fake news, which, in turn, fuels the armed conflicts on the ground. Our precarious situation makes us easy to manipulate. If it’s not armed groups, it’s politicians. Or both. They’re sometimes even linked.”
A childhood dream
The fact that Franck is still a journalist, and even an investigative one, is perhaps no coincidence. Journalism is a childhood dream he’s fighting to live: “I’ve always had great admiration for journalists. I saw how they fought to make our voices heard. I was still a kid, but their determination to stand up for the community when almost everything was against us, in a context of war, left a deep impression on me.” Franck officially entered journalism in 2018, defying his parents’ wishes for him to become an engineer, a less “controversial” and less risky profession than journalism. A profession that, obviously, pays better than journalism in the DRC. “I have a lot of respect for engineers, but it’s not for me. I’ve always wanted to be a voice for my community. I started speaking on the radio when I was 15, on entertainment programs.”
Admiration or idealization? Franck would eventually get to the bottom of that question when, in 2021, he found himself in a position of responsibility at a government-affiliated media organization. “Most of the journalists who were working there, were in this position because political actors or authorities had pulled some strings. Journalism isn’t just about accepting guidance from your editor; it’s also about accepting criticism. There was none of that. Just contempt from the young reporters who were still learning how to handle a camera.” Yet, he laments today, the organization had the resources. “Something most newsrooms lack. A real waste in my eyes because the organization had all the potential to make a difference.”
Seven years after officially entering journalism, Franck seems to have lost none of his commitment, much less his admiration for journalism, despite the calls and pressure to join the armed groups operating in his region. Franck is one of the journalists behind the investigation, published last July, into the illegal cocoa trade between the DRC and Uganda, involving armed groups, the armies of both countries, businessmen, and state agents. This investigation earned Ukweli Coalition Media Hub a nomination from Reporters Without Borders for its2025 Press Freedom Awards. Just a few weeks after publication, the investigation appears to have prompted a series of measures taken by the authorities, either to ensure the protection of farmers or to prohibit taxes deemed illegal on cocoa sales, asreportedby local media outlets.
With a calmer voice and a nuanced yet still concise tone, Franck shares the survival strategy for journalists today working in conflict zones like eastern DRC: “We have an extremely sensitive task: to report in a context of war. Impartiality and neutrality must be our watchwords, our compass. They are our shield in terms of security and legal protection.” Words that, when applied to the reality on the ground, remain difficult to put into practice, he acknowledges: “It’s complicated to demand neutrality from a journalist who can’t even pay their rent, even if neutrality is for their own safety. We need support, a certain financial stability. It’s an important pillar for working independently and guaranteeing quality reporting. And it’s certain that this support won’t come from political actors, much less from armed groups.”
Entitled “Eastern DRC: War crimes committed against the press…”, the annual report of the organization “Journalist in Danger” (JED), published last November, revisits the damning record of attacks on media and journalists over the past twenty years in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: twenty journalists killed out of a total of 2670 attacks, which combines the assassinations of journalists, those who have disappeared, have been detained, and media that have been destroyed. Alerting the public to the current phenomenon of “forced recruitment of journalists under the guise of ideological training, in training camps where they learn to handle weapons,” primarily in the South and North Kivu provinces controlled by the M23 Movement, the organization lists a whole series of predators of press freedom spanning the last two decades: “While under President Joseph Kabila, the main perpetrators of attacks against journalists and the media were essentially limited to the security services, Congolese intelligence, and national or provincial authorities, under the new head of state, activists from various political parties (both the current government and the opposition) are also among the executioners of press freedom. Furthermore, militias and armed groups in the eastern provinces of the country, under rebel control, have been added to the list of main perpetrators.”
In this investigation, Ukweli Coalition Media Hub, an investigative platform specialising in the Great Lakes region, in partnership with Afrique XXI and Africa Uncensored, has uncovered a vast cocoa bean trafficking networkbetween eastern DR Congo and Uganda. Involved are the Congolese and Ugandan armies, civil servants, well-known economic operators and armed groups including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
Special reports from Beni, Kasindi, Butembo, Mpondwe and Nobili.
22 November 2024, North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Lubiriha River is at its lowest. This river separates the two towns of Kasindi-Lubiriha in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mpondwe in Uganda. At this time of year, the two banks are separated by just over 30 metres of water. The surrounding area is heavily guarded by the Forces armées de la republique du Congo (FARDC), and the Uganda People Defense Forces (UPDF). Contrary to what might be expected of these two national armies, their objective is not to maintain order, but rather to facilitate the crossing of hundreds of people and tonnes of goods, which use this route to evade customs controls. Day and night, the trafficking takes place with their blessing, in exchange for money.
One of the main products smuggled is cocoa beans.
Cocoa is DRC’s leading agricultural export. According to the World Bank, the country exported some 63,971 tonnes of beans in 2023, generating $50 million in taxes, according to data from the Central Bank of Congo (BCC). The ninth largest exporter in Africa, DRC was also the second largest exporter of organic cocoa to Europe (the world’s largest customer) in 2023, with 8,061 tonnes.
Since 2023, the world price of cocoa has soareed, driven by poor harvests in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the world’s leading producers. The price tripled in 2024, reaching $11,675 per tonne on 31 December 2024. Under these conditions, the beans are more coveted than ever. Armed groups, which abound in eastern DRC where the vast majority of Congolese beans are produced, particularly in the Beni region, and exporters, prepared to do anything to increase their profits, are vying for this financial windfall. This business fuels corruption among public officials and exacerbates insecurity.
Following the legislative and local elections on 5 June, the ruling CNDD-FDD party won 100% of the seats in the National Assembly. Behind this result lie deep-seated economic and political crises. Thousands of desperate young people are leaving their homes to try their luck in neighbouring countries.
MOROSE AND NEGLECTED IN THE PAST, THIS CITY’S CURRENT SPLENDOUR cannot go unnoticed: the former colonial capital Gitega, located in the centre of the country, became the political capital of Burundi in 2019. It is also, and above all, the city where the current President of the Republic, Evariste Ndayishimiye, was born. Gitega now seems to be benefiting from a combination of historical, political and geographical factors — with new hotels springing up everywhere, new businesses opening up (particularly building material stores), and the daily sound of sirens blaring in the streets to clear the way for a minister on his way to a conference, a high-ranking army officer visiting his farm, or a senior official of the ruling party (the CNDD-FDD) returning from a political meeting.
Doubts about this allure arise when one looks away from the large construction sites and turns to the ordinary citizens in the streets or on the hills. We are in front of Matergo, one of the city’s most popular new hotels, frequented by authorities, diplomats, businessmen and others. Two vehicles are parked side by side, fuel tanks open. A man standing between the two cars emptied one to fill the other. “It’s a good deal”, whispered a passer-by. “The buyer may have offered him five times the normal price, or even more. That’s the new business here, if you have a car. You queue for days at a petrol station, and if you’re lucky enough to get fuel, you sell it to someone who is not willing to wait. That’s Burundi today. My country is in a really bad shape!”, continued the man, looking around him nervously to make sure his words have not fallen on prying ears. His safety depends on it. In Burundi, even the streets now seem to have ears. To say that the country is in bad shape, that the lives of its citizens are at a standstill because of a widespread fuel shortage that has now lasted more than three years, is to challenge the official narrative — that of a country flowing with milk and honey. As a matter of fact, there can only be joy in ‘the Garden of Eden’, as President Evariste Ndayishimiye has boldly christened Burundi.
