The French government has demanded that Burundi immediately release a French journalist and British photographer who were arrested during a security sweep by police in the capital city of Bujumbura on Thursday.

"We were concerned to learn of the arrests of French journalist Jean-Philippe Remy and British photographer Philip Moore," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement today, reported the Agence France-Presse (AFP). "I call on Burundi's authorities to proceed with their immediate release. Diplomatic procedures are underway."

Moise Nkurunziza, a spokesman for the Burundian police, said Friday that the two men were arrested in the capital in the Nyakabiga neighborhood of the capital, allegedly meeting with armed rebels who oppose the current government, according to ABC News.

"Both [men] had visas and were only doing their job by meeting all parties involved in the tensions in Burundi," Le Monde said in a statement on its website, in which the newspaper also demanded the release of both journalists, stating that they are Le Monde's special correspondents in the country.

Remy has won several awards for his work, including the 2013 Prix Bayeux-Calvados for his coverage of the war in Syria, and Moore has been acclaimed for his freelance photojournalism during conflicts in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Somalia and Syria.

Remy and Moore were in Burundi on assignment, covering the crisis that was sparked in April 2015 by President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a controversial third term. Since the ensuing weeks of street protests, violence, a failed coup and growing rebellion in the African nation, Nkurunziza's government has locked down free media, forcing independent platforms and radio stations to close and expelling some foreign journalists, according to the AFP.

The U.S. and several European Union nations have been critical of the Burundian government's repression of media outlets, Reuters reported.