Reporters Without Borders (RSF) formally referred the case of missing Nigerien journalist Moussa Kaka to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on September 28, 2026, the press freedom group announced publicly on October 2. The referral came one month after Kaka, 66, left the offices of Radio Télévision Saraounia in Niamey around 7pm on August 31 and never arrived home; his vehicle has never been located, according to RSF RSF.

The UN mechanism, operating under the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, can request that Niger investigate and report but holds no enforcement power. RSF's move follows an earlier, September 16 appeal to the African Commission's Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Ourveena Geereesha Topsy-Sonoo, reflecting a dual-track regional-to-international advocacy strategy as Niamey's junta has offered no public account of Kaka's fate. "Moussa Kaka has been missing for a month. His family, friends and colleagues at Radio Télévision Saraounia are living in terrible anguish," said Sadibou Marong, RSF's Sub-Saharan Africa director, adding that "the authorities must do everything in their power to ensure that Moussa Kaka is reunited with his loved ones as soon as possible" RSF.

The international rights federation FIDH, together with the World Organisation Against Torture, has also issued an urgent appeal over Kaka's disappearance, though its account — like RSF's — relies on reporting from the journalist's relatives and colleagues rather than independent verification of his whereabouts. FIDH noted that the exact circumstances of the disappearance and his possible location remain unestablished, and that relatives believe he may have been intercepted on his way home before being taken to an unknown destination.

Multiple outlets, including AFP-fed wire copy and Africa Radio, report that Nigerien authorities have not communicated publicly on the disappearance at any point since it occurred, two days after an attempted mutiny shook Niamey for nearly 24 hours and was put down with what regional reporting describes as decisive support from Niger's Russian ally DH/AFP. Niger's civil society coalition G25, whose spokesperson Tahirou Garka has said the group conducted its own inquiries, alleges that Kaka is held by the external intelligence service, the Direction générale de la documentation et de la sécurité extérieure (DGDSE); no press freedom body has corroborated that claim, and no primary source names any detaining authority Afriksoir.

Kaka's case fits a documented pattern: he was briefly detained in November 2025 alongside five RTS colleagues, and his outlet lost its RFI affiliation when the junta suspended the French broadcaster after the 2023 coup. He was also arrested in September 2007 and prosecuted into 2008 under then-president Mamadou Tandja over his reporting on contacts with Tuareg rebels of the Movement of Nigeriens for Justice, spending roughly a year in detention before a provisional release — making him a long-persecuted figure in Nigerien journalism even before this disappearance.

What remains unconfirmed is whether Kaka is alive, his physical condition, and whether Niger's government has responded privately to RSF, FIDH or the African Commission rapporteur even as it stays silent publicly. Observers are watching for any UN Working Group communication to Niamey, further corroboration or retraction of the G25's DGDSE claim, and whether other journalists face comparable treatment following the August mutiny.