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.
In the space of a few years, at least 17,000 Burundian women have officially set off for Riyadh in search of a better life. Although Burundi and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement in 2021 that is supposed to regulate this activity, a veritable traffic in female workers, often deprived of all their rights on the spot, has been set up. To the great benefit of a few unscrupulous agencies and with the benevolence of the Burundian government and some of its apparatchiks.
By Ukweli Coalition Media Hub, Afrique XXI, Africa Uncensored
February 2025, Cibitoke, in north-west Burundi. It is in this provincial town with its ochre dirt streets, soaked by the many rains at this time of year, that Gabriel Nzosaba* has taken the time to tell his sister’s story. Saidata* had left for Saudi Arabia a year earlier, where a job as a housekeeper awaited her. She never saw Cibitoke again. Four months after her arrival, she died in circumstances that have yet to be explained. She was 24 years old. Her brother says that she regularly communicated with her family via various private messaging services. In February 2024, on her arrival, she sent a message in Kirundi: ‘Mie huyu’ (‘I am here’). According to her brother, the exchanges came to an abrupt halt after a final message was received on 8 June 2024.
Several corroborating testimonies have enabled the family to reconstruct part of the young woman’s life: Saidata had left her employer, with whom she no longer got on, before being picked up by some ‘Dalalas’. This Swahili slang term, widespread among Kenyan domestic workers, refers to ‘disreputable intermediaries’, according to an investigation by the French media outlet France 24 (1). They promise foreign workers that they will find another employer, but often end up exploiting young women in vulnerable situations. According to our information, Saidata then lived in a house in Riyadh with other women. These houses of passage are also called ‘offices’. It was there that she fell ill.
Saidata’s family learned of her death via social networks. They were then put in touch with Joël Ndayisenga, the second counsellor at the Burundian embassy in Saudi Arabia. The family said that he directed them to the Burundian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to repatriate the body, although Ndayisenga denies that. According to the brother, this operation was to cost 17 million Burundi francs (BIF, around €5,000). A sum that the young woman’s family did not have. The minister, Albert Shingiro, finally convinced Saidata’s father to bury his daughter in Saudi Arabia with the help of Burundians living there. The family asked Joël Ndayisenga to send them photos of the funeral. To no avail. The only consolation was that the parents were able to recover her personal affairs.
An initial alarming report from the United States
Saidata’s case is far from isolated. For several months, Burundian and international journalists from the investigative platform Ukweli, which specialises in the Great Lakes region, in partnership with Afrique XXI and Africa Uncensored, have been investigating this export of labour to Saudi Arabia.
According to the newspaper Jimbere, 65% of young people in Burundi have no formal employment (2). With an average income of around 17 euros, the country is one of the poorest in the world. Under these conditions, the Saudi Eldorado sounds like paradise. But the abuses and violence described by the dozen or so witnesses who agreed to confide in us paint a picture of hell on earth. The ramifications of this trafficking, organised by Bujumbura under the cover of a bilateral contract signed with Riyadh, can be traced back to powerful Burundian men who reaped substantial profits without ever being questioned, despite their failure to comply with national regulations and the flagrant human rights violations. The state, recruitment agencies in Burundi and Saudi Arabia, crooked intermediaries… All are enriching themselves on the backs of these vulnerable workers.
Already in 2023, the situation of female Burundian emigrant workers, the behaviour of recruitment agencies and the State’s inability to protect its nationals were singled out in a US government report (3) on human trafficking. ‘Observers noted the government’s failure to ensure that labour recruitment companies did not engage in trafficking,’ the document said.
An MP involved in violence
The report also points out that the government indicated that 676 Burundian women working in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as domestic workers have received consular support, legal services and repatriation assistance between 2020 and 2022, some of whom are victims of trafficking. However, ‘international organisations have identified 1,409 potential victims of trafficking (…) among female migrant workers returning from abroad during the period under consideration [2022, editor’s note], compared with 1,380 in 2021’. Hundreds, if not thousands, of these workers have been left to fend for themselves — even though the government and its agencies have pocketed tens of millions of dollars, some of which was supposed to be used to help them.
Many of them are afraid to speak out, like Marie*, who is currently working in Riyadh. She was sent by the Eagle Agency for Youth Employment. This company belongs to Jean-Baptiste Nzigamasabo, alias Gihahe, a member of parliament for the ruling party, the Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie-Forces de Défense de la Démocratie (CNDD-FDD), which has just won 100 percent of the seats in the National Assembly following the communal legislative elections on 5 June. On 20 February 2021, in its weekly report No. 271 (4), the ngo SOS Torture Burundi implicated the MP’s bodyguard in the murder of three teachers in Kabanga, in the north of the country, a week earlier, against a backdrop of political rivalry. Baptiste Nzigamasabo had already been cited by Human Rights Watch (5) in pre-election violence in 2010. He was never convicted. After agreeing to testify, Marie finally declined, arguing that “it could become dangerous [for me and my family]”.
Excerpt from the list of recruitment agencies approved by the Burundian government. Eagle Agency for Youth Employment belongs to Jean-Baptiste Nzigamasabo, also known as Gihahe, a member of parliament from the ruling party, CNDD-FDD.
The recruitment and deployment of Burundian domestic workers to Saudi Arabia is supposed to be governed by an agreement signed between the two countries on 3 October 2021. It stipulates, among other things, that ‘the parties shall set up a mutually acceptable recruitment, deployment and repatriation system for Burundian domestic workers for employment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in accordance with the laws, rules and regulations in force’. In addition, the employment contract must be accepted by the competent authorities of both countries and must be respected by the contracting parties (employer, domestic worker, Saudi recruitment office and Burundian recruitment agency). It is also stipulated that the recruitment agencies in both countries and the employer shall not charge or deduct from the domestic worker’s salary any costs relating to his/her recruitment and deployment.
Workers accused of being “incapable”
Another clause stipulates that the government must ensure the well-being of female workers. The agreement also states that Saudi Arabia will facilitate the rapid settlement of disputes relating to the violation of employment contracts and other cases brought before the competent Saudi authorities or courts. For its part, the Burundian government must provide qualified and ‘medically fit’ domestic workers, in accordance with the requirements of the job specifications, and ensure that future domestic workers are trained in specialised institutes and given an introduction to Saudi customs and traditions. It must also ensure that the terms and conditions of the employment contract are fully understood by the candidate. In the event of a breach of the clauses, repatriation is theoretically the responsibility of Burundi.
Following the signing of this agreement, a large number of labour recruitment agencies were set up. There are currently twenty-seven of them, of which twenty-six are located in Bujumbura and one in Makamba in the south (owned by MP Gihahe). In February, during the presentation of the achievements (6) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, minister Albert Shingiro announced that the total number of Burundian women working in Saudi Arabia, before and after the agreement, had reached 17,000. This contract between the two countries was supposed to provide better protection for workers who emigrated 5,000 kilometres from their homes to a country whose customs and traditions are radically different from their own. But the reality is quite different.
At an open day organised at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 7 May 2024, Mertus Ndikumana, president of the Association of Private Recruitment Agencies of Burundi (Oraab), said that around a hundred workers sent to Saudi Arabia had returned, dissatisfied with their work (7). However, according to a source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who wished to remain anonymous, more than 500 workers have in fact returned home in a hurry since the agreement was signed. This source confided that the Burundian recruitment agencies accused these workers of being “incapable”of carrying out their duties.
“Serious injuries” and “psychological consequences”
This version is contradicted by Eddy Manirakiza, project manager at the Fédération des Associations Engagées dans le Domaine de l’Enfance au Burundi (Fenadeb), an organisation that has also been dealing with human trafficking for several years. “Between October 2023 and January 2025, we received 66 presumed victims of human trafficking,” he explains. “37 were girls who had returned from Saudi Arabia, 8 from Oman, 3 from Kuwait and 3 from Kenya.” According to Eddy Manirakiza, “of the 66 cases identified, all had been subjected to several of the forms of violence that characterise human trafficking, such as the use of force, coercion, intimidation or threats”. He points out that “some suffered serious injuries, while others bear the psychological scars of their experience”.
Amina*, a woman in her forties, returned from Saudi Arabia in November 2024 due to health problems. She is now suffering from spinal shock, the result of physical violence inflicted by her employer. “My boss was extremely cruel. She always found excuses to hit me. I regret having taken the decision to leave without first seeking advice”, she confides.
Eddy Manirakiza adds that recruitment agencies in Burundi do not monitor the women they have sent abroad, even when they return. What’s more, these women, the vast majority of whom “live in extremely precarious conditions in Burundi”, don’t dare lodge complaints, as they are often unaware of the terms of their contracts with their employers, attracted above all by the prospect of improving their situation and that of their families. For Mertus Ndikumana, President of the Association of Recruitment Agencies mentioned above, these companies respect the law: “If a woman has a problem, it is the duty of the agency that sent her to assist her.”
A former leader of the Imbonerakure militia turned recruiter
An agency employee who agreed to testify on condition of anonymity offers a different version. We’ll call him Pascal. In practice, he explains, “there are times when the worker is obliged to pay her return ticket herself”. He continues: “If she is unable to do so, the agency that recruited her or the Burundian embassy in Saudi Arabia pays for the ticket. But in this case, it’s a long process and the girls can go months without assistance.” Another agency employee explains that “when a worker wants to return before two or three years have passed because she is unable to do her job, it’s a big loss for the agency, which reimburses the Saudi partner agency more than $1,800”. She added: “There are times when the migrant worker is imprisoned until she pays the airfare.”
Bahati* is 28 years old and comes from a province in the north of the country. In 2023, a woman from Bujumbura came to her commune to recruit “girls” with passports who wanted to work in Arab countries. This intermediary put her in touch with the Société de Formation Professionnelle et de Placement de la Main d’œuvre (SFPPM). According to the official list of state-approved recruitment agencies that Ukweli was able to consult, and according to information cross-checked by Ukweli, this Bujumbura-based company belongs to Paul Ndimubandi, the former Secretary General of the ruling party’s Youth League. Also known as Imbonerakure, this organisation is regularly accused of being a militia used for political repression (8). When contacted, the SFPPM did not respond to our questions.
Excerpt from the list of recruitment agencies approved by the Burundian government. The Vocational Training and Labor Placement Company belongs to Paul Ndimubandi, the former leader of the Imbonerakure militia.
On 15 May 2023, after a brief training course in housekeeping, Bahati flew to Saudi Arabia from Melchior Ndadaye airport. The very next morning, she took up her post under the orders of her new boss, who had made sure to confiscate her passport. Two months after she was hired, Bahati fell ill and her ordeal began. While doing domestic work, she became dizzy, fell to the floor and lost her sight. Her boss tried to get her treated before taking her back to ‘the office’, a liaison centre where immigrant workers are gathered when they arrive or are awaiting repatriation. “I spent seven long months locked up, sick and malnourished. During all that time, I wasn’t treated”, Bahati confides. A long struggle for her return to Burundi began. According to Bahati, Jacques Ya’coub Nahayo, Burundi’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, even called Jean-Paul Ndimubandi, the head of the SFPPM. On 12 January 2024, Bahati finally landed in Bujumbura. Jean-Paul Ndimubandi has not responded to our requests, while Jacques Ya’coub Nahayo redirected us to the ministry of foreign affairs (see box).
“A Kenyan woman committed suicide out of desperation”
Several other young women described extremely harsh living conditions in these offices. One of them recalls, still shocked:
In the morning, we were given bread and tea. In the evening, they brought us rice and cabbage to cook. But sometimes we’d go two or three days without supplies, and therefore without eating. Sometimes we had to bang on the door to get food. One Kenyan woman even committed suicide out of desperation.
When she returned, Bahati was taken in by her family for treatment. In all, she received 700 Riyals (162 euros) for one month’s work, the salary she was told she would be paid before she left and the only detail of her contract that she knew. She was never given a copy of her contract. Since her return, she has heard nothing more about the SFPPM. In 2023, Jean Bosco Bizuru, one of the SFPPM’s agents, stated that he would ensure that the “rights [of those recruited] were respected”.
Capture of the X account of the newspaper {Jimbere}. Post published on 17 May 2023.
Capture of the X account of the Jimbere newspaper. Post published on 17 May 2023.
🎙️ Bizuru Jean Bosco de l’une des agences locales (#FPPM) qui assistent les Burundais pour trouver de l’#emploi en Arabie Saoudite rassure: "Nous accueillons, formons et accompagnons tous ceux qui le désirent. Ces femmes partent avec un contrat de deux ans, et une rémunération… pic.twitter.com/KJhnDNqlOx
According to Bahati, she spent seven months locked up in this office because neither of the two recruitment agencies, Saudi or Burundian, was willing to pay for her plane ticket. Other women interviewed as part of this investigation have described similar experiences.
In a response to senators (9), following the signing of the bilateral agreement in October 2021, Foreign Affairs Minister Albert Shingiro reassured that “(…) [the] international conventions and [the] national laws of many countries require that all costs related to the recruitment of migrant workers be paid by their employers. To this end, regulating and controlling recruitment costs means taking measures to prohibit the charging of recruitment and related fees to workers and jobseekers.”
Medical examination and bribe paid by recruited worker
In April 2022, during the examination (10) of the bill to validate the agreement between Burundi and Saudi Arabia, the then Minister of the Interior, Gervais Ndirakobuca, indicated that the contract should make it possible to “put an end to speculation by bogus commission agents who were asking for application and travel fees [from recruits] when these were being paid by their employers”. Not everyone was convinced by these speeches. Euphrasie Mutezinka, a member of parliament from the opposition National Congress for Freedom party, points out that many elected representatives did not vote in favour of the bill, precisely because of the loopholes in the protection of workers. In her view, “if female workers are mistreated, the recruitment agencies should be held responsible.”
Does this ‘El Dorado’ at least pay off for the workers? Contracts are for a renewable period of two years. The agency employee quoted above explains that “the salary depends on the Saudi agency that submitted the offer. It is generally between 800 and 900 Riyals (185 to 209 euros). For those who have already worked in countries such as Iran, Kuwait, Jordan or Oman, their salary varies between 1,000 Riyals and 1,200 Riyals.”
Cynthia* has been in Saudi Arabia for five months. “As an orphan, it was a godsend for me to be able to earn money abroad and provide for my brothers and sisters. I didn’t hesitate for a second.” The 22-year-old says she currently earns 800 Riyal a month (185 euro). Francine*, 35, married with two children, left in June 2024. She earns the same salary as her compatriot. However, she feels that this is not enough.
Above all, contrary to the Burundian government’s announcements, the two women claim to have spent a lot of money to leave. “The passport, criminal record extract, medical examinations, visa and training fees cost me more than BIF 1 million (290 euro),” says Cynthia. The agency only paid for the plane ticket. In addition to these charges, Francine says she had to pay a bribe: “I paid around 2 million BIF to an agency employee to get on the list.”
When asked how much the Saudi agencies pay their Burundian counterparts for each recruit, Pascal, our anonymous employee interviewed above, demurs: “That’s a professional secret”. Interviewed (11) in April 2023, Ramadan Mugabo, Director of Operations at the recruitment agency Al-Harmain recrutement LTD, confided that each worker sent earned him “1,400 dollars” (1,211 euros). According to him, this sum is insufficient to cover all the costs, including the cost of the plane ticket, care during training, bank charges and so on. He continues: “After all the expenses, the agency is left with a maximum of 30 dollars per person recruited. But if we recruit a lot of workers, we can earn a lot.”
Tens of millions of dollars earned
Another former employee of a recruitment agency agreed to speak out a bit more. The Saudi agencies paid the Burundian agencies between 1,500 and 2,000 dollars per recruit. At this rate, Burundian companies would have earned between $25.5 million and $34 million for the 17,000 female workers sent to Saudi Arabia as announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. “The agencies are making a lot of money at the expense of these workers. That’s why these companies hide the contracts they sign with their counterparts in Saudi Arabia”, Pascal concedes when confronted with these figures.
The investigation also uncovered a few details about the employment agencies in Saudi Arabia, which are also making money off Burundian workers. The Safwat Al-Nokhba agency, for example, charges 13,400 Riyals (3,100 euro) per worker placed. Makin charges 10,400 Riyals, while Mithaq Al-Madine charges its clients 12,000 Riyals.
The Burundian government is not to be outdone. In a memo (12) dated 8 August 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation details the criteria for awarding a recruitment agency licence. The agency must pay a deposit of 50 million BIF to the Bank of the Republic of Burundi (BRB), ‘which will serve as compensation for the damage suffered by the Burundian migrant worker’. If the application is approved, the recruitment agency must pay 100 million BIF into the public treasury account opened at the BRB. The licence certificate is valid for two years, renewable on further payment of 50 million BIF.
And that’s not all. Before the departure of each migrant worker abroad, an identification form is collected by the agency from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This form is obtained after submission of a dossier consisting of an extract from the criminal record, the employment contract, the visa, the plane ticket, a medical document and a payment slip for 100,000 BIF. In his aforementioned statement of achievements presented in February, Albert Shingiro proudly announced: “Burundi has already collected just over 10 million dollars and 10 billion BIF. Saudi Arabia has accepted [to welcome] 75,000 migrant workers over the next five years.” A sum that could have enabled Saidata to see her village again, rather than end up buried alone in the sands of her lost El Dorado.
*First names and surnames have been changed.
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BEHIND THE SCENES
This investigation was conducted over several months by the Great Lakes investigative platform Ukweli Coalition Media Hub, in partnership with Afrique XXI and Africa Uncensored. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
When contacted, Burundi’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Jacques Ya’coub Nahayo, and his 2nd adviser, Joël Ndayisenga, referred us to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The latter never replied despite several exchanges with its spokesperson. Jean-Paul Ndimubandi of the SFPPM was contacted several times, to no avail. The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was contacted through the telephone numbers and e-mail addresses on the official website, without any response. We also tried to contact the spokesperson for the ruling CNDD-FDD party and MP Gihahe, as well as the Burundian ministry of internal affairs through the numbers and e-mail addresses found on the government website, without success.
Notes
1 Audrey Travère, “Arabie saoudite : les “dalalas”, intermédiaires douteux qui prétendent sauver les domestiques africaines”, France 24, 24 February 2023, read here.
2 The Jimbere newspaper (article here) is approved by the national media regulator, but the International Labour Organisation, which uses statistics supplied by states, gives a much lower figure: according to it, 12.6% of young people aged 15-24 are neither in employment, education or training.
3 The “2023 Trafficking in Persons Report: Burundi” is available here.
5 Human Rights Watch, “Burundi: Authorities should end pre-election violence and hold perpetrators to account”, 14 April 2010, read here.
6 Claude Hakizimana, “Ministère en charge des affaires étrangères : Présentation des réalisations du premier semestre 2024-2025”, Le Renouveau du Burundi, 4 February 2025. Read it here.
7 Jules Bercy Igiraneza, Engager la diplomatie économique pour baisser le chômage à travers des travailleurs migrants, Iwacu Burundi, 10 May 2024. Read it here.
8 Sonia Rolley, “Burundi : les imbonerakure répondent aux accusations”, RFI, 8 August 2015, here.
9 Sénat de la République du Burundi, “Rapport d’analyse par la Commission permanente chargée des questions sociales, de la jeunesse, des sports et de la culture du projet de loi portant ratification par la République du Burundi de l’accord sur le recrutement des travailleurs domestiques entre le gouvernement de la République du Burundi et le gouvernement du Royaume d’Arabie saoudite”, 4 May 2022, available here.
10 Cellule Communication, presse et porte-parolat de l’Assemblée nationale, Analyse et adoption de deux projets de loi de ratification, 22 April 2022, read here.
11 Emery Kwizera, “Protection des travailleurs migrants : des avancées ?”, Iwaku Burundi, 19 April 2023, read here.
12 Public memo, Government of Burundi – Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, 8 August 2022, to be found here.
