Democratic Republic of Congo
Agency threatens to close radio stationsPosted Sep 23 2009
The National Intelligence Agency threatened to terminate three radio stations in Butembo, Nord-Kivu last month if they continued to broadcast programming of Radio France Internationale (RFI). According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Congolese government discontinued local use of RFI’s signal on July 26 after the broadcaster aired information provided by the UN Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo explaining why certain former rebel units decided to desert the Congolese army, into which they had recently been incorporated.
The managers of the stations in question, Kennedy Wema of Radio Télé Graben, Rochereau Kambakamba of Radio Liberté and John Tchipenda of Radio Scolaire, each received a summons on August 11. They were told the following day in an interview with National Intelligence Agency that they could be closed down if they did not stop retransmitting RFI. The Agency said the order came from the province’s governor.
“The National Intelligence Agency does not have the power to suspend a news media,” RSF reported. “Only a court can do that.”
The organization added that the only station currently retransmitting RFI is Radio Télé Graben. Its manager said the station would definitely continue to broadcast RFI until it received official notification in writing.
“I told [the agent] that this wasn’t correct; we argued about it for two hours,” Wema told the International Press Institute.
A total of 27 local radio stations in Democratic Republic of Congo are partners of RFI. With a literacy rate of 67%, a substantial portion of the country’s population depends heavily on radio for news.
Recent free press concerns in the DRC extend to Bukavu, the capital of Sud-Kivu, near the Rwandan border. Bruno Koko Chirambiza, a broadcast journalist, was killed on August 23. He worked in educational programming for Radio Star, a local, privately owned radio station.
Chirambiza was attacked while walking home from a wedding with a friend. He was stabbed repeatedly, and the friend was punched once. The money, cell phone and tape-recorder he carried at the time were not taken. RSF reports that these circumstances suggest Chirambiza was targeted but that the motive for his murder is still unclear, and so far nothing connects his death with his work as a journalist.
Chirambiza was the third radio journalist to be murdered in Bukavu in the past two years, following Didace Namujimbo in 2008 and Serge Maheshe in 2007, who both worked for UN-run Radio Okapi.
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