Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
29 October 2007
press release
A Congolese government minister invited two television journalists to his office in the capital, Kinshasa, and then ordered police to beat them when they arrived, according to news reports and local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger. The incident came on the heels of a government decree summarily banning 38 private broadcasters over alleged regulatory noncompliance.
Higher Education Minister Sylvain Ngabu ordered policemen to beat news director Heustache Namunanika and cameraman Didier Lofumbwa of private broadcaster Horizon 33 after the station aired a news program discussing Ngabu's decision to suspend Dieudonné Kalindye, the chancellor of a local university, according to news reports. In the program, shown on October 19, and again two days later, Namunakia raised critical questions about the government's role in the controversy after interviewing both Ngabu and Kalindye.
Lofumbwa was preparing his camera to film Ngabu when five armed officers assaulted him from behind, using rifle butts to beat him while dragging him out of the office, he told CPJ. He received treatment for bruises and chest pains, according to Namunika, who escaped the beating, but had his clothes torn in the scuffle.
Calls from CPJ to Information Minister Toussaint Tshilombo Send were not immediately returned, but his chief of staff, Faustin Fwafa, said Send "deplored" the incident, adding that a government cabinet meeting would discuss the issue on Friday.
A complaint against Ngabu and the guards for unlawful confinement and assault and battery was filed on the journalists' behalf on Wednesday, defense lawyer Jean-Pierre Ngunda told CPJ.
"We are outraged that a government minister would lure two journalists to his office with the bait of an interview and then order police to beat them and drag them outside," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. "It is inconceivable that a democratically elected president such as Joseph Kabila, who meets with President Bush at the White House this week, could sanction such behavior by one of his ministers. We hope that President Kabila will ensure that all those responsible for this brutal attack on Heustache Namunanika and Didier Lofumbwa are brought to justice swiftly."
Horizon 33 has been off the air since Monday, after Send summarily ordered 22 private television channels and 16 radio stations closed on Saturday over alleged regulatory noncompliance, according to news reports. Fwafa said the broadcasters operated without official authorization or documentation, and were in default of required fees or taxes, he told CPJ. The ban is for an indefinite period, and while several stations report having since paid their dues or submitted required documents they remain shut down.
Several journalists interviewed by CPJ said the ruling came without notice or hearing, denying them the opportunity to address the allegations. Fwafa denied the ban came without forewarning, adding that the government had announced its intent to audit media outlets since March.
"We remind the government that the closing of radio and television stations without due process amounts to censorship," said Simon. "We call on the government to adhere to due process as guaranteed under the country's constitution."
Local journalists told CPJ the ruling was an attempt to intimidate stations close to the opposition just as the government is about to distribute the equivalent of US$2 million in state subsidy funds to the DRC's impoverished public and private media houses.
The audit has so far only affected commercial broadcasters in Kinshasa, but will continue into the provinces, according to Fwafa. If applied to countryside broadcasters, the audit threatens to silence dozens of community radio and television stations unable to pay regulatory fees, including the 2 million Congolese francs (US$5,000) required for a broadcasting license, according to the Congolese Federation of Community Radios.
CPJ named the DRC this year one of the world's worst backsliders on press freedom.
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.cpj.org
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Couper le bras, that is what Joseph Kabila told in an interview to reporters, when he rejected the attempt of politicians to control his army. No, Joseph Kabila is a blood hound who has nothig else in his mind than to wage war in DRC, plunder riches just like Mobuto and leave people in hunger. This because Germany supports him. It began with the audience of the former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who tapped him on his shoulder. During the rule of his father Laurent Desirč he waged war in Eastern Congo just like the other thieves there to get hold of the riches. Before he met Gerhard Schröder in Berlin he landed in Geneva and had in his diplomatic luggage gold powder which he brought to a lebanese gold trader. It was melted and equipped with a swiss seal. German firms like BAYER deal with Coltan illegally, GFE in Nuremberg deals with pyrochlorine from SOMIKIVU mine, DANZER deals tropic wood and destroys forest in DRC. The revenues of this come into the pocket of Joseph Kabila and even his soldiers do not get wage and therefore plunder whereever they appear. But most awful is that UN with MONUC support this bloodhound instead of bringing him to war crime court in DenHaag. So did German army during stay in Kinshasa. It belongs to German colonialism with its most evil figures like Lettow-Vorbeck and Nachtigall who spilled streams of blood of Africans. Me as a German I am ashamed of this. During my stay in former Belgian Congo I learned the truth of colonialism. Belgians have gone but puppets of Colonialist continue the dirty work in the stile of Leopold 2. Congolese must understand, that socalled recent 5 Billion $ credit from Chinese has nothing to do with aid, but is another way of cheating people with glasspearls. Josep Kabila has learnd officer in China and is just another Pol Pot who butchered in Cambodia. The putsch against Laurent Desiré was organised by Belgian Maoist Ludo Martens. Chinese and North Koreans were involved to get hold of uranium. It is interesting to notify that MONUC wants to get hold of Nkunda a dissident general of Joseph Kabila. Further it is interesting to hear that in his occupied territory farmers are protected so that no plunder occurs. Laurent Desiré Kabila had in his government farmers so as to organise agriclture to face famine. Joseph Kabila only makes contracts with thievs so as to plunder DRC, the people suffers from hunger and MONUC must bring food from abroad. A friend of congolese people.