France, June 15 -- On the morning of 7 February, 2025, journalist Arlindo Chissale left his home in Pemba, the capital of Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province. The reporter, who worked for the online publication Pinnacle News, met his friend Abudo Gafuro outside Maria Auxiliadora church.

Chissale recorded a video about alleged electoral fraud. Mozambique had been shaken for months by protests over the results of the October general election.

"I'll post it this evening," he told his friend, before the two men parted ways.

A few hours later, Chissale boarded a bus bound for Nacala, several hundred kilometres to the south. He was due to start his second job at a city cemetery. He never arrived.

Seventeen months after his disappearance, Chi...