Burundi journalist Esdras Ndikumana, the AFP and Radio France Internationale correspondent who was forced to flee last year, was awarded the 2015 French diplomatic press prize on Monday for his work covering the troubled country. Ndikumana, 54, who sought refuge in Kenya and is the first foreigner to be awarded the prize, won it for "his courage and will to inform", French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said. The award is also "a message of support to all your Burundian and African colleagues who carry out exemplary work", Fabius added.

Ndikumana, who covered events in the central African country from 2001 for AFP and 2002 for RFI, fled in August after being badly beaten following his arrest during the violent political crisis. He was taking pictures at the spot where a general was assassinated in the capital Bujumbura on August 2 when he was detained by members of the National Intelligence Service (SNR).

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2016