A British and a French journalist are among 17 people that were arrested in a police swoop in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, on Thursday.
The two were reportedly arrested while reporting on gunmen opposed to the government in the troubled East African country.
The French journalist works for the daily Le Monde, while the other is a freelance British photojournalist.
Both journalists have covered the region for years and have won several awards for their reporting and photography.
Presidential press chief Willy Nyamitwe confirmed the arrests on Twitter, saying he had been due to meet the Le Monde journalist on Thursday afternoon.
The Foreign Correspondents Association of East Africa (FCAEA) said it was “extremely concerned about the arrests of our esteemed and dear colleagues … yesterday in Burundi”.
“We know them to be consummate professionals and are disturbed by news of their detention while they were doing their jobs in Bujumbura,” the FCAEA said in a statement Friday morning.
Burundi plunged into violence in April 2015 after President Pierre Nkurunziza declared his bid for a controversial third term in office, before winning the election that was held in July.
More than 400 people have died since the violence erupted and at least 230,000 have fled to neighbouring countries. The UN has warned that the violence could escalate into ethnic killings and mass atrocities.
