(JED/IFEX) – The following is an abridged version of a JED alert: JED has condemned the police invasion of the Congolese National Radio-Television (RTNC) studios in Butembo (in North Kivu province, eastern DR Congo) and the interruption of a live programme reporting on prevailing insecurity in the city. According to information received by JED, on […]
(JED/IFEX) – The following is an abridged version of a JED alert:
JED has condemned the police invasion of the Congolese National Radio-Television (RTNC) studios in Butembo (in North Kivu province, eastern DR Congo) and the interruption of a live programme reporting on prevailing insecurity in the city.
According to information received by JED, on 7 March 2007 at 9:00 a.m. (local time), acting under orders from Butembo Mayor Wabunga Singa, a group of police officers from the mobile intervention unit invaded the studios of RTNC’s local station. Following this police operation, RTNC’s signal was interrupted and two journalists, Lambert Kasereka and Aimé Paluku, were assaulted prior to being taken to the mayor’s office, where they were ordered to stop reporting on security problems in the city.
Contacted by JED, a representative from the Butembo mayor’s office said that RTNC had continued to distribute a civil society group press release requesting that merchants observe a one-day strike action to protest the prevailing violence in Butembo, where a teacher was killed by a soldier on 3 March.
Since this incident, RTNC-Butembo has not resumed broadcasting. However, a local representative from the station told JED that broadcasts would resume on the evening of 7 March.
