(JED/IFEX) – Through a 25 January 2000 summons signed by Commander Raus Chalwe Ngwashi, head of the Special Services branch of the Congolese National Police (Police nationale congolaise, PNC), Norbert Tambwe, a journalist with the Kinshasa daily “La Tempête des tropiques”, was “invited” to appear at the branch’s headquarters in Kinshasa/Gombe. The journalist is to […]
(JED/IFEX) – Through a 25 January 2000 summons signed by Commander Raus Chalwe Ngwashi, head of the Special Services branch of the Congolese National Police (Police nationale congolaise, PNC), Norbert Tambwe, a journalist with the Kinshasa daily “La Tempête des tropiques”, was “invited” to appear at the branch’s headquarters in Kinshasa/Gombe. The journalist is to be questioned by judicial police officer Kasongo Oley on “matters which will be explained to him upon his arrival.”
According to Tambwe, who has yet to decide whether to respond to the summons, he is accused of publishing an article in the Friday 21 January edition of “La Tempête des tropiques” (issue 1394) titled “Two presidential escort motorcyclists killed after speeding”. In the article, the journalist stated that “two motorcyclists from President Laurent-Désiré Kabila’s escort were killed in a road accident on the afternoon of 18 January 2000”, in Kinshasa/Ngaliema. The newspaper added that the presidential escort was returning from the Kinshasa/N’Djili international airport without the head of state, and that a presidential associate had earlier mistakenly announced Kabila’s return from Libreville.
Tambwe concluded his article by recalling that “the presidential escort has already caused a number of deadly accidents in Kinshasa, particularly due to the speed and haste with which the drivers and motorcyclists drive”.
The PNC’s Special Services, who have an infamous detention centre, are among the Congolese intelligence services known to have arrested a number of journalists.
