(JED/IFEX) – Please disregard our 30 October 2000 alert concerning the Lubumbashi newspaper “La Cheminée”. Please refer to the following alert instead. JED regrets the error. Théodore Mwila Kasongo, a journalist with the weekly newspaper “La Cheminée”, based in Lubumbashi (county town of Katanga province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s south-east), has been forced […]
(JED/IFEX) – Please disregard our 30 October 2000 alert concerning the Lubumbashi newspaper “La Cheminée”. Please refer to the following alert instead. JED regrets the error.
Théodore Mwila Kasongo, a journalist with the weekly newspaper “La Cheminée”, based in Lubumbashi (county town of Katanga province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s south-east), has been forced to go underground. According to information received by JED, Mwila Kasongo is being actively sought by National Information Agency (Agence nationale de renseignements, ANR) officers in Katanga.
The motive for this manhunt is the publication of an article titled: “The president of the ACL-PT escapes a murder attempt, Tshamala wa Kamwanya owes his life to his driver’s quick reflexes”. The article appeared in issue fifty-six of “La Cheminée”, dated 9 October 2000. It reported on an attack by an unidentified commando against Tshamala, the president of the Constituent and Legislative Assembly – Transitional Parliament. According to the journalist, the facts of the case lead to the conclusion that the incident was a settling of scores within President Kabila’s entourage.
The incident was followed by a search of the Congolese parliament’s seat by ANR officers a few days later.
