(JED/IFEX) – Minister of Communications and Press Kikaya Bin Karubi has responded to JED’s recent protest letter denouncing the threats and harassment aimed at the private broadcaster RAGA and journalist Jean-René Mputu Biduaya. In an 18 June 2002 letter to JED, Kikaya denied any involvement in the blackmail efforts and intimidation campaign designed to force […]
(JED/IFEX) – Minister of Communications and Press Kikaya Bin Karubi has responded to JED’s recent protest letter denouncing the threats and harassment aimed at the private broadcaster RAGA and journalist Jean-René Mputu Biduaya. In an 18 June 2002 letter to JED, Kikaya denied any involvement in the blackmail efforts and intimidation campaign designed to force RAGA to stop criticising the government.
The minister described the remarks reported by JED as “gratuitous” and “fabrications aimed at having our foreign partners believe that the private press in the Congo is bullied by the authorities.”
With regards to the arrests of journalists, the minister accused JED of constantly evoking old statistics in order to tarnish the Democratic Republic of Congo’s image.
In a 20 June letter of response to Kikaya, JED confirmed that all the information cited by the organisation was obtained from official sources and credible eyewitness accounts. JED deplored the fact that the minister responsible for communications and the press would describe such serious attacks on press freedom as “imaginary incidents.”
In the same letter, JED listed several recent cases of journalists who were either arrested or detained. They clearly disprove the minister’s allegations that journalists are not under threat in the part of the country under government control.
JED cited the case of Félix Kabuizi, publication director of the daily “La Référence Plus”, who was questioned at length at the National Intelligence Agency (Agence nationale des renseignements, ANR) offices on 19 June. The journalist was questioned about an article that reported the recent disappearance of seven leaders of the rebel movement Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie – Mouvement de libération (RCD-ML). The seven leaders were reportedly taken by soldiers to an undisclosed location. Kabuizi was threatened and warned not to write about such incidents, which, according to his interrogators, “may discourage other candidates from returning to the country.”
One week earlier, Nyemabo Kalenga, publisher of the newspaper “La Tribune”, was detained illegally for over 10 hours at the ANR offices. In an earlier article, the journalist had denounced a fraud case implicating a Lebanese citizen.
