Enforced disappearance of activists Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint initiative of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), urgently calls for intervention regarding the situation in Burkina Faso.
Details of the disappearances
Grave concerns have been raised following the abduction and enforced disappearance of Mr. Amadou Sawadogo and Mr. Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé. Both are prominent figures in the civic movement “Balai citoyen,” an organization founded on August 25, 2013, with the goal of establishing “a just and upright society in Burkina Faso, within a democratic rule of law.”
On March 20, 2025, Amadou Sawadogo was summoned to the state security regional service in Ouagadougou, the nation’s capital. He was questioned about his critical commentary on Facebook and pressured to disclose the locations of two other activists who have since gone into hiding. After complying with a second summons to the same office on March 21, 2025, he vanished. Authorities have provided no information regarding his whereabouts or the reasons for his detention.
Subsequently, on March 30, 2025, Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, a sociologist and the executive secretary of Balai citoyen, was abducted around 11:45 AM outside his home in the Karpala district of Ouagadougou. The incident occurred shortly after his return from Cotonou, Bénin, where he had attended the inaugural activism school organized by the Foundation for Innovation for Democracy from March 24 to 28, 2025. Armed men, identifying themselves as gendarmes, seized him in front of his wife. Despite repeated inquiries by legal representatives to various state institutions, no details about his status have been released.
To date, the fate and location of both Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé remain unknown, leaving their families and colleagues without any news.
A pattern of repression against civil society
The Observatory notes that these events are part of a disturbing trend targeting members of the Balai citoyen movement. For instance, Mr. Guy Hervé Kam, a lawyer, human rights advocate, and co-founder of the movement, was arrested on January 24, 2024, at Ouagadougou’s international airport in a manner that violated West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) regulations concerning the arrest of lawyers. After being released and re-arrested twice, he is now arbitrarily detained on charges of “conspiracy and criminal association.” Furthermore, Balai citoyen members Rasmané Zinaba and Bassirou Badjo were abducted on February 20 and 21, 2024, respectively, and forcibly conscripted into the Burkinabè army. They remain on the front lines, despite a December 6, 2023, ruling by the Administrative Tribunal of Ouagadougou ordering the suspension of their conscription orders.
This crackdown extends to journalists, with military authorities intensifying repression through targeted abductions. Journalists Guezouma Sanogo, Boukary Ouoba, and Luc Pagbeguem were abducted on March 24, 2025. Others, including Kalifara Sere (taken on June 19, 2024), Serges Oulon (June 24, 2024), and Bayala Adama (June 28, 2024), have also disappeared. All of them are still missing.
These abductions are occurring in a context of shrinking civic space and suppression of human rights defenders and journalists who criticize the military authorities. This repressive climate, fueled by official pressure for “patriotic reporting,” has led to widespread self-censorship among independent media. The Observatory’s February 2025 report, “Civic Space and Human Rights Defenders in the Sahel: Regional Convergence of Repressive Practices,” highlights how two decrees signed in November 2022 and April 2023 by the Transitional President have enabled authorities to requisition any physically fit person over 18. These decrees are now being used selectively to abduct, forcibly disappear, and conscript human rights defenders and political opponents into the army. The Observatory expresses grave concern that Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé face a high risk of forced conscription. In March 2024, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances voiced its preoccupation with “recent allegations of a practice of enforced disappearance targeting human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents” in Burkina Faso, noting that several practices under the decrees “could constitute enforced disappearances.”
The Observatory strongly condemns the abduction and enforced disappearance of Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, which appear solely intended to punish them for their legitimate human rights activities. The authorities in Burkina Faso must take all necessary measures to reveal their whereabouts, ensure their immediate and unconditional release, and conduct a thorough investigation into their disappearance.
Furthermore, the Observatory calls on the military authorities to uphold the rights to freedom of expression and association, as enshrined in international human rights standards, including Articles 19 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Articles 9 and 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Required Actions
We urge you to write to the military authorities in Burkina Faso and ask them to:
- Ensure the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Amadou Sawadogo, Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, and all human rights defenders in Burkina Faso under all circumstances.
- Take all necessary steps to disclose the fate and location of Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, grant them access to their families, and release them immediately and unconditionally.
- Cease immediately the systematic practice of enforced disappearance and the targeted conscription of human rights defenders and journalists aimed at silencing dissenting voices.
- End all forms of harassment, including judicial harassment, against Amadou Sawadogo, Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, and all human rights defenders and journalists in the country, ensuring they can carry out their legitimate activities without fear of reprisal.
- Guarantee strict adherence to fundamental freedoms, particularly the rights to freedom of expression and association, as protected by international human rights law, to which Burkina Faso is a party.
Addresses:
- Captain Ibrahim Traore, President of the Transition of Burkina Faso, Twitter: @CapitaineIb22
- H.E. Jean-Emmanuel Ouédraogo, Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Twitter: @J_E_Ouedraogo
- Mr. Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Keeper of the Seals of Burkina Faso, Email: [email protected]
- H.E. Jean Marie Karamoko Traore, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Burkinabè Abroad; Email: [email protected]; Twitter: @JeanMarieTraore
- National Human Rights Commission of Burkina Faso, Email: [email protected], Twitter: @BurkinaCndhX
- H.E. Mrs. Sabine Bakyono Kanzie, Permanent Mission of Burkina Faso to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
- Mr. Oumarou Ganou, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the United Nations in New York, Email: [email protected]
- Embassy of the Permanent Mission of Burkina Faso to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia / Email: [email protected] / [email protected].
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Burkina Faso in your respective countries.
