(JED/IFEX) – In the early morning of Tuesday 25 January 2000, Jérôme Debo, member of JED’s investigations bureau escaped abduction at a bus stop in Kinshasa/Bandalungwa, while he was on his way to work. Three unidentified men – apparently members of the secret service – attempted to force him into an unmarked car, in order […]
(JED/IFEX) – In the early morning of Tuesday 25 January 2000, Jérôme Debo, member of JED’s investigations bureau escaped abduction at a bus stop in Kinshasa/Bandalungwa, while he was on his way to work. Three unidentified men – apparently members of the secret service – attempted to force him into an unmarked car, in order to drive him to an unknown location. The alleged assailants asked him to drive them to the location where they could find JED’s directors.
Debo took advantage of the crowd that formed because of the incident in order to flee. Nevertheless, the three men managed to steal his briefcase, which contained his JED service card and other documents. He also remembered having seen the men earlier that morning, when he left his house on foot.
Furthermore, JED’s secretariat received two anonymous phone calls, at 11:00 a.m. (local time) on Tuesday 25 January and 11:15 a.m. (local time) on Wednesday 26 January, from an unknown person who accused the organisation of “tarnishing the distinguished image of the Democratic Republic of Congo to foreign countries.” The caller demanded that JED’s website “which carries nothing but lies” be closed. He threatened, “Otherwise you will pay for it with your blood.”
JED’s board of directors would have been able to dismiss the threats if the unusual caller, who appeared to be using a public telephone booth, had not called a second time. Also, these threats occurred twelve days after the kidnapping of lawyer Kayembe Kasuku from the head office of the External Department of the National Information Agency (l’Agence nationale de renseignements, ANR). Kasuku was a human rights activist and member of the non-governmental organisation, Lawyers Without Borders. When Kasuku responded to a summons to the ANR, he was stripped by soldiers and badly beaten throughout the night of 14-15 January. Covered in wounds, Kasuku is now fighting for his life in a Kinshasa hospital.
