(JED/IFEX) – The local military authorities in Lubumbashi, capital of Katanga province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) south-eastern region, have been looking for Lucien Kahozi, Voice of America (VOA) radio correspondent in Lubumbashi, since 20 November 2002. The journalist is currently in hiding. Kahozi had put the VOA bureau in Washington DC in […]
(JED/IFEX) – The local military authorities in Lubumbashi, capital of Katanga province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) south-eastern region, have been looking for Lucien Kahozi, Voice of America (VOA) radio correspondent in Lubumbashi, since 20 November 2002. The journalist is currently in hiding.
Kahozi had put the VOA bureau in Washington DC in contact with local priest François Muyila Mbweno, who witnessed government troops’ (Congolese Armed Forces, FAC) attacks on local citizens in the village of Ankoro, in north Katanga. Human rights organisations announced that government troops had attacked and set fire to 1,200 homes and killed some 100 civilians in Ankoro on 10 November. Muyila is also being sought by the military authorities.
The DRC government acknowledged that violent incidents took place but minimised the extent of the carnage. A government fact-finding mission has been sent to the area.
