Bujumbura, Burundi – Scrolling through a folder of his work, Burundian cartoonist Alif pauses at a caricature of a journalist in the crosshairs of a rifle scope – an image that seems to sum up the dangers faced by those who continue to report on Burundi’s ongoing political crisis.
“A cartoon like this can say a truth that we cannot publish in words,” Alif explained. For the past five years, he has been working at the weekly Iwacu newspaper in the country’s capital, Bujumbura. His satirical cartoons and caricatures, along with those of his colleague Axel, are splashed across the pages of what is now the sole remaining voice of independent media in Burundi.
For safety reasons, both men use pen names.
“For me, the work we do is very important. But sometimes we are afraid because we know that what happened at Charlie Hebdo can happen here,” said Axel, referring to the January 2015 attack on the French satirical newspaper that left a dozen people dead.
While Iwacu, with its circulation of 3,000 copies, seems unlikely to be targeted by an international group, Axel’s concerns are not entirely unjustified.