This statement was originally published on rsf.org on 26 March 2026. Africa’s Great Lakes region is a sea of red and orange on the map of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index, meaning the journalists who work there operate under intense political and financial constraints. The epicentre of the region’s deteriorating security situation lies in the conflict-ridden eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Today, the Great Lakes are at the heart of geopolitical issues linked to natural resources, and journalists in the area are constantly on the move, often out of necessity. The new RSF report, “What it’s like to be a journalist in Africa’s Great Lakes region , ” takes readers inside the day-to-day lives of media professionals who continue to report the news despite grave risks. Read the report here: “ What it’s like to be a journalist in Africa’s Great Lakes region” Press freedom in the six countries that make up Africa’s Great Lakes region is rated either “difficult” or “very serious” in the World Press Freedom Index. Informing the public is a daily challenge in the DRC (ranked 133rd out of 180 countries and territories), Kenya (102nd), Rwanda (146th), Uganda (143rd), Burundi (125th) and Tanzania (95th), and the new RSF report details the many forms of violence facing the region’s news professionals.
More than anything, being a journalist in this area means working in a deeply unstable environment. This is especially true in eastern DRC, where conflict broke out a few years after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. This situation has become even more dire in the past few years, especially since the city of Goma was captured in early 2025, independent reporting in the east of the DRC has become virtually impossible. Reporters are caught between the anvil of the armed group M23 and the hammer of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC). This translates into arrests, attacks, threats, enforced disappearances, executions and the closure, looting and ransacking of newsrooms. Reporters are often left with no choice but to flee and face the challenges of exile in the DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, and neighbouring countries.
The difficulties in the region are not confined to war zones. In Rwanda, the media landscape is tightly controlled by the authorities, pushing many journalists into exile. In Burundi, the press has been weakened by the 2015 crisis. Reporters covering protests or elections in Uganda are regularly faced with arrests and violence. Meanwhile, their counterparts in Kenya are threatened and intimidated when investigating corruption and social movements. In Tanzania, repressive media laws continue to severely restrict press freedom. The region’s press also suffers legal harassment, widespread economic uncertainty and an information space that is highly susceptible to disinformation. “Journalists’ enemies take many forms in the Great Lakes region. Reporters are squeezed between armed violence, political pressure, economic suffocation and disinformation, all of which undermine the public’s right to reliable information in the long term. To ensure that this right is upheld, RSF calls on Great Lakes states to act without delay to protect journalists’ safety, end impunity for crimes committed against them, and guarantee that they can carry out their work without fear of imprisonment.” Jeanne Lagarde, Advocacy Manager, RSF Sub-Saharan Africa
Produced by RSF teams in Dakar, Paris and the Great Lakes region, the report draws on numerous first-hand accounts from journalists and experts in the region, as well as the NGO’s real-time monitoring of press freedom. It also looks at ways to overcome obstacles to keeping the public informed, highlights innovative initiatives of resilience and provides policy recommendations. Ten key conclusions from the report - Half of the nearly 500 journalists arrested or detained in the region were in the DRC Over the past ten years, almost 500 journalists have been arrested in the Great Lakes region as a result of their work, including 111 who were detained for over two days. They include Stanis Bujakera in the DRC and Floriane Iraganbiye and the journalists from the outlet Iwacu in Burundi. Two are still behind bars in Rwanda — Dieudonné Niyonsenga and Théoneste Nsengimana — while in Burundi, Sandra Muhoza is on provisional release awaiting her verdict.
- - Killings and disappearances are carried out with complete impunity The cases of journalist Jean Bigirimana , who disappeared in Burundi in 2016; Arshad Sharif , shot dead by police in Kenya in 2022; and John Williams Ntwali , killed in a suspicious accident in Rwanda in 2023, illustrate the level of impunity and the severity of threats facing news professionals. Over the past decade, ten journalists have been killed and five have disappeared while doing their job in the Great Lakes region.
- - A hostile legal and administrative environment prevails All six countries that make up the Great Lakes criminalise journalists and their work using vague charges that are regularly applied abusively, such as “undermining the integrity of the national territory,” “undermining state security” and “insulting the head of state” (with the exception of Kenya for the last charge). Most also criminalise defamation and the dissemination of false information. Press freedom is further limited by broadcast regulators ordering unjust suspensions of media outlets — such as the one-month suspension of Mwananchi Communications Limited in Tanzania in 2024 — and tightening administrative control over foreign outlets. In Kenya, accreditation costs have quadrupled in two years to around 4,000 EUR per year. In Uganda and Tanzania, these costs amount to several hundred USD. Legal proceedings are lengthy, opaque, often arbitrary, and do not prevent journalists from being expelled from the country.
- - Media independence is hampered by a precarious market With very low and irregular salaries — around 70 EUR per month for community radio journalists and between 215 EUR for journalists in the region, with significant disparities depending on the outlet and status — most journalists have to juggle multiple jobs to survive. Outlets lack essential infrastructure and equipment and heavily depend on funding from the state, international bodies and advertising, making them vulnerable to pressure and influence operations. In Kenya, long considered a regional hub for press freedom, media independence is being weakened by shifts in the market, as illustrated by the controversial takeover of Nation Media Group by a Tanzanian businessman with reportedly close ties to the Kenyan President William Ruto in March 2026.
- - The eastern DRC is the epicentre of danger The DRC has recorded the highest number of journalists killed while carrying out their work in the region, with five reporters murdered since 2021. They are: Barthelemy Kubanabandu Changamuka ( CORAKI FM ), killed on 9 May 2021; Héritier Magayane ( RTNC ), killed on 8 August 2021; Joël Musavuli ( RTCB ), killed on 14 August 2021; Patrick Adonis Numbi ( Pamoja TV ), killed on 7 January 2025; and Thierry Banga Lole ( RTNC ), killed on 29 December 2025. Four of these journalists were killed in eastern provinces.
- - Community radio stations are on the front line In eastern DRC, community radio stations are regularly looted or destroyed by parties involved in the conflict, in which the FARDC — supported by local Wazalendo militias and foreign troops — is pitted against a series of armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23. At least 33 radio stations have been ransacked or shut down in North Kivu, an eastern province, since January 2024.
- - The media space is a battlefield In eastern DRC, the M23 exercises direct control over certain broadcasts by imposing its directives and interrupting broadcasts, particularly those of national radio stations relayed by local ones. At the same time, Congolese authorities exert pressure to control national coverage of the conflict, notably via the national broadcast regulator. Access to conflict zones is extremely limited for both national and foreign journalists. Covering the war is particularly difficult across the region.
- - Disinformation is rapidly intensifying The conflict is also fuelling a battle over narratives. Disinformation campaigns and attempts to manipulate public opinion are making it difficult to access reliable information throughout the region, especially as deepfakes proliferate.
- - Congolese journalists are being displaced and exiled en masse Hundreds of Congolese journalists have been internally displaced or forced into exile, particularly to neighbouring countries, where they continue to face transnational repression and a serious lack of security. Some have no choice but to abandon the profession altogether. First-hand accounts from these reporters feature in the RSF report.
- - There are significant attempts to fortify and rebuild the media landscape Despite repression, initiatives to boost the media’s resilience are emerging. New independent outlets — including newsrooms operating in exile — media networks and journalist consortia such as the Ukweli Coalition Media Hub, a collaborative media centre supporting journalists in the Great Lakes region, are rising to the task and the fact-checking projects are being developed by Congolese organisations such as Balobaki Check and Eleza Fact, and the East African organisation PesaCheck.
- Ten key recommendations from RSF to governments in the region: - Guarantee the safety of journalists nationwide , particularly in conflict areas, by establishing an independent mechanism for the protection of journalists equipped with a rapid alert system;
- - Put an end to threats and physical attacks against journalists , including those made by political figures;
- - Systematically open investigations into attacks on journalists and prosecute those responsible in order to combat impunity;
- - Facilitate the work of international and freelance correspondents by making accreditation procedures transparent and affordable;
- - Guarantee the right of exiled journalists and their families to return safely, without reprisals, and for host countries to ensure the protection of exiled journalists on their soil, including protection against transnational repression;
- - Put an end to Internet shutdowns , particularly during elections or demonstrations;
- - Ensure that media regulatory bodies are independent, transparent and impartial , and that they do not issue arbitrary sanctions against journalists and media outlets;
- - Review criminal laws and press regulations to ensure that journalists can carry out their work without the risk of arbitrary prosecution or custodial sentences;
- - Provide targeted economic support (grants, training, access to advertising) to media outlets in order to ensure their viability and editorial independence;
- - Support the diversity and sustainability of reliable news media by using the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) in the design and allocation of grant programmes.
- Read in Swahili / Soma kwa Kiswahili The post Journalism in the Great Lakes region under siege appeared first on IFEX .