(JED/IFEX) – The offices of the High Authority on Media (Haute Autorité des Médias, HAM), the DR Congo media regulation agency, were destroyed, pillaged and set ablaze on 27 July 2006 at 5:30 p.m. (local time). The unidentified attackers were described by witnesses to be supporters of Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) President […]
(JED/IFEX) – The offices of the High Authority on Media (Haute Autorité des Médias, HAM), the DR Congo media regulation agency, were destroyed, pillaged and set ablaze on 27 July 2006 at 5:30 p.m. (local time). The unidentified attackers were described by witnesses to be supporters of Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) President Jean-Pierre Bemba, who is a candidate in the presidential election.
A journalist from the Kinshasa weekly “The Post”, who was trying to take photos of the HAM building on fire, was assaulted and his camera was taken.
“Whatever one’s opinion may be about the work of the HAM, it is unacceptable that its offices be vandalised, pillaged and set afire,” declared JED.
These incidents occurred when Bemba returned to Kinshasa and held a meeting in the Tata Raphael stadium, situated 100 metres from the HAM offices.
According to JED’s 28 July report, all the archives as well as two buses used to transport personnel were destroyed by fire. “They have destroyed it all, right down to the electrical fittings”, HAM President Modeste Mutinga told JED.
Despite the weaknesses one can attribute to the HAM, JED reaffirms the importance of this media regulatory agency, particularly during this election period.
