Three days have passed since the prominent Nigerien journalist Moussa Kaka went missing, raising fears that he may have been forcibly disappeared.
Kaka, director-general of Radio Télévision Saraounia and a former correspondent for Radio France Internationale, left his office in Niamey, the capital, at around 7 p.m. on August 31 to return home. Since then, his family and colleagues have been unable to obtain any information about his whereabouts.
Kaka has previously faced pressure from the authorities. In October 2025, police in Niamey arrested him and five other journalists—Abdoul Aziz Idé, Ibro Chaibou, Souleymane Brah, Youssouf Seriba and Oumarou Kané—after they announced via social media a news briefing about a solidarity fund the government had created to raise money to support state security force operations. The authorities charged them with “complicity in distributing documents likely to disturb public order” under the cybercrime law. In November, a court released Kaka, Idé and Brah on bail, while Seriba and Kané were released on July 15, and Chaibou on August 28.
Kaka’s disappearance followed an attempted coup against Niger’s junta on August 29, when mutinous soldiers attacked several strategic locations in the capital. The army, backed by Russian government-controlled Africa Corps forces, retook control on August 30.The authorities have since detained soldiers alleged to have taken part in the uprising and one former minister.
A Nigerien journalist said that in Niger today, “one could disappear because of his or her opinions.” He described Kaka’s disappearance as following the same modus operandi as other disappearances of prominent junta critics.
Under international human rights law, an enforced disappearance occurs when someone is held by state forces and the authorities refuse to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or conceal their whereabouts.
Since seizing power in a 2023 coup, Niger’s junta has entrenched authoritarian rule, dismantled democratic institutions, and intensified repression against its critics. The military authorities have dissolved political parties, suspended dozens of civil society groups, detained journalists under a broad cybercrime law, stripped political opponents of their nationality, announced Niger’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, and prolonged the country’s political transition without elections. The junta also continues to arbitrarily detain former President Mohamed Bazoum and a prominent human rights defender, Moussa Tchangari.
Niger’s authorities should immediately disclose Kaka’s whereabouts, ensure his safety, and release him unless he has been charged with a valid criminal offense.
