(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is greatly alarmed by the continued imprisonment of journalists Mbakulu Pambu Diambu and Godefroid Kiangwe Buleya. With the Arusha Peace Accords now in place, CPJ is demanding the immediate and unconditional release of both journalists. **Updates IFEX alert of 27 April and 25 March 1999** Pambu Diambu, president of the Matadi chapter […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is greatly alarmed by the continued imprisonment of
journalists Mbakulu Pambu Diambu and Godefroid Kiangwe Buleya. With the
Arusha Peace Accords now in place, CPJ is demanding the immediate and
unconditional release of both journalists.
**Updates IFEX alert of 27 April and 25 March 1999**
Pambu Diambu, president of the Matadi chapter of the Congolese Press Union
(UPC) and a broadcaster with the private station Radio Television Matadi
(RTM), was arrested in late November 1998. He was charged with breaching
state security for hosting a television program on which he interviewed
representatives of the Congolese Rally for Democracy rebel forces, which
have been opposing government forces along the Tanzanian border.
Kiangwe Buleya, editor of the Kinshasa-based independent weekly “Mukuba” and
president of the Congolese National Freedom of Expression and Human Rights
Defense Fund, has been in detention since 22 June 1999, on criminal libel
charges initiated by Kyungu wa Kumwaza, a former governor of Katanga
Province. Buleya was arrested in connection with a 14 June editorial in
which he quoted public statements by Kumwaza inciting Katanga natives to
attack the Babemba tribes under the pretext that Lunda Bululu, a leader of
the Rally for Democracy rebel groups, is a Babemba. In his article, Buleya
called Kumwaza’s speech demagogic, insisting that the country needed less
tribal animosity and more social cohesion.
CPJ advocates for the safety of all journalists and other media workers. The
organisation had hoped that the Arusha Ceasefire Agreement of 10 July
between President Laurent-Désiré Kabila’s government and other parties
involved in the armed conflict raging throughout Africa’s Great Lakes
region, would put an end to the long-standing persecution of journalists in
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). However, CPJ is aware that as of
today conditions remain unchanged.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
clear
violations of the internationally recognized right of journalists to seek,
receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, and Article 9 of the African Charter of Human
and People’s Rights, to all of which the DRC is a signatory
release of all those imprisoned for expressing their opinion
release
of Pambu Diambu and Kiangwe Buleya
in
the DRC, and to commit his government to create an environment in which
journalists are able to work freely, without fear of reprisal
twenty-four journalists have been arbritarily detained, attacked, harrassed,
threatened, or censored in the DRC
Appeals To
His Excellency Laurent-Désiré Kabila
President of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Ngaliema, Kinshasa
Democratic Republic of Congo
Fax: +234 88 02120 / +1 202 234 2609
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
