In a damning new revelation that shines a harsh light on rising authoritarianism in West Africa, global press freedom advocacy organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has accused Burkina Faso’s ruling military junta of running an unacknowledged, makeshift detention facility in the nation’s capital Ouagadougou, where a leading investigative journalist and dozens of detainees are held in degrading, abusive conditions. The findings, released Wednesday by RSF, directly contradict official claims about the whereabouts of Atiana Serge Oulon, editor-in-chief of the independent Burkina Faso newspaper L’Evenement.
Oulon was forcibly removed from his private residence in Ouagadougou in June 2024 by a group of unidentified armed men dressed in civilian clothing. Shortly after the abduction, the junta, which has held power since a 2022 coup led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, announced that Oulon had been conscripted into national military service to fight the ongoing regional insurgency against Islamic militants. But accounts from former detainees obtained by RSF tell a far different story: as of late 2024, Oulon and as many as 40 other detainees remain imprisoned in a heavily guarded residential compound in central Ouagadougou, cut off from all contact with family, legal representation, and the outside world.
Detainees held in the facility described systematic mistreatment that violates basic international human rights standards. Former prisoners reported sleeping on uninsulated bare concrete floors, being denied access to clean drinking water and forced to drink water from toilet fixtures, and regular beatings at the hands of guards who use thick ropes and tree branches as weapons. RSF’s investigation also revealed direct ties between the secret detention operation and Traoré’s inner circle: a senior security officer assigned to Traoré personally debriefs detainees before their release, threatening them with severe retaliation if they speak publicly about their experience in the facility.
Oulon has been a target of junta scrutiny since 2022, when he published a high-profile investigative report exposing alleged embezzlement by a senior army captain, RSF confirmed. As of publication, Oulon’s exact location and current condition remain unknown, and the junta has not responded to repeated requests for comment from RSF after the organization shared its full investigative findings with government officials.
This revelation is the latest in a growing body of evidence documenting a widespread crackdown on political dissent and independent press under Traoré’s junta. Since seizing power in the September 2022 coup, the military government has shuttered dozens of independent media outlets, targeted critical journalists and opposition figures, and systematically forcibly conscripted dissidents to frontline combat against jihadist insurgents. In an April 2024 report, Human Rights Watch documented that the junta’s sweeping crackdown has created what the organization described as “an atmosphere of terror” across Burkina Faso, severely cutting off public access to uncensored information and eliminating almost all space for political opposition. RSF is now calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Oulon and all detainees arbitrarily held at the secret Ouagadougou facility.