End Impunity: West Africa Must Stop Failing Its Journalists

Every 2 November, the world marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. The UN General Assembly proclaimed the day in Resolution A/RES/68/163, choosing the date to commemorate the assassination of two French journalists in Mali on 2 November 2013.

Those two journalists were Claude Verlon and Ghislaine Dupont, who were abducted and killed in Kidal, northern Mali. West Africa therefore has a particular duty on this day. The numbers show why the day still matters. Since 1993, more than 1,700 journalists have been killed for reporting the news.

In nine out of ten cases, the killers go unpunished, according to the UNESCO observatory of killed journalists. UNESCO also reports that 189 journalists were killed in the line of duty in 2024-2025, a 20% increase on the previous period.

Ghana's best-known unresolved case is that of Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela. On 16 January 2019, two men on a motorcycle shot him dead as he drove in Accra. He was an undercover journalist with Tiger Eye Private Investigations, and the killing came months after the release of a documentary exposing corruption in football.

The case has produced police statements and arrests, but no accountability. Police said they had questioned 13 people and remanded one. In March 2025, the Madina District Court remanded a suspect,

Daniel Owusu Koranteng, into custody. Even so, in November 2025 the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that nearly seven years after the killing, Ghanaian authorities have failed to identify and hold those responsible to account. CPJ also reported that his brother told it the family remained hopeful, given President Mahama's pledge to ensure accountability.

The problem extends across the region. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has documented unresolved killings for years, including in Nigeria. In one MFWA review, all four journalist killings recorded in Nigeria between April and November 2017 had received no form of redress.

The MFWA recorded about 70 violations against journalists in West Africa over ten months in 2019, many of them uninvestigated, much less punished. Killings are only the most extreme form. Journalists across the region also face arbitrary arrests, detention, physical attacks, intimidation and harassment for doing their work.

The remedy is not complicated. The UN resolution urges member states to prevent violence against journalists, ensure accountability, bring perpetrators to justice and ensure victims have access to appropriate remedies.

In practice that means independent investigations with public updates, prosecutions that reach those who order the killings, and protection for the families who keep demanding answers.

Journalism is not a crime. Until the killers of journalists in West Africa are found and punished, impunity will continue to invite the next attack. West Africa must become an impunity-free zone.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,
International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)
[email protected]
+233555275880

References
United Nations, "International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists." un.org

CPJ, "No justice for murdered Ghanaian journalist as world marks day to end impunity," 3 Nov 2025. cpj.org (also on AllAfrica)

CPJ, profile of Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela. cpj.org

Graphic Online, "Thirteen questioned, one remanded in Ahmed Suale murder investigations." graphic.com.gh

Angel Online, "Suspect in Ahmed Suale murder remanded into custody," 19 Mar 2025. angelonline.com.gh

MFWA, "International Day to End Impunity: MFWA demands justice for four murdered journalists." mfwa.org

MFWA / AFEX, "Waiting for Justice: No redress for killings in recent years," 5 Nov 2019. africafex.org