A record number of journalists were killed worldwide in 2024, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said.
CPJ, in its annual report, said at least 124 journalists across 18 countries were killed last year, making it the deadliest year since the agency started keeping records more than three decades ago.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, among the voices silenced were 30-year-old Mozambican blogger and musician Albino Sibia, who went by the nickname Mano Shottas and ran two Facebook pages where he reported on local issues such as crime and poor infrastructure,” reads the report.
Sibia had, in the weeks before his death, covered protests in the wake of Mozambique’s elections, in which the ruling Frelimo party claimed victory.
CPJ noted that during the blogger’s funeral, police shot at a group of journalists, injuring one of them, Pedro Júnior. Another journalist, Arlindo Chissale, has been missing in the restive northern province of Cabo Delgado since January 7.
CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo said from Nairobi that authorities should ensure accountability in the murder of Sibia and the attack on Pedro Júnior, and credibly investigate Arlindo Chissale’s disappearance.”
“Mozambican journalists have paid a heavy price reporting the news amid unrest and a post-election crisis,” she said.