The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has called on transitional and constitutional governments in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Guinea to end the arbitrary arrest and prolonged pretrial detention of journalists and civil society actors. The foundation made the call in a report presented at a regional conference on press freedom and democratic governance in West Africa held in Abuja. Speaking at the conference, MFWA Executive Director, Sulemana Braimah, said journalists, media professionals, activists and other civic actors had increasingly become targets of restrictions, intimidation, surveillance, arrests and other forms of repression. AdvertisementIt also called for investigations and accountability over attacks on journalists, including cases of enforced disappearance. Against this backdrop, the foundation said media and freedom of expression frequently became “first-line casualty” whenever democratic orders were disrupted.