Nigerien journalist Moussa Kaka, former correspondent for Radio France Internationale, February 12, 2007.
(Nairobi) – Niger’s authorities should urgently disclose the whereabouts of the prominent journalist Moussa Kaka, who was forcibly disappeared two months ago, Human Rights Watch said today. They should ensure his safety and release him unless he has been charged with a valid criminal offense.
On August 31, 2026, Kaka, the director-general of Radio Télévision Saraounia and a former correspondent for Radio France Internationale (RFI), left his office in Niamey, the capital, to return home but never arrived, raising immediate concerns. For weeks, his family and colleagues were not able to obtain information about his whereabouts. On September 25, during Niger’s Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations in Geneva, Justice Minister Alio Daouda acknowledged that Kaka was being detained. The minister said Kaka was being held for an alleged “offense” and would “answer before the courts,” but provided no details about the accusation or his place of detention.
“Two months after Moussa Kaka vanished in Niger, the authorities have yet to provide his location or explain his detention,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Kaka’s family will continue to grapple with the uncertainty until the authorities resolve his disappearance.”
Kaka is a respected figure in African investigative journalism. For years, he reported for RFI in Niger, until the military junta suspended its broadcasts in 2023. Throughout his career, he has continued his work under successive governments despite the risks and repeated detentions for his journalism.
In September 2007, under then-President Mamadou Tandja, the authorities arrested Kaka and accused him of links to ethnic Tuareg rebels, following his extended coverage of the Tuareg rebellion in no
