(JED/IFEX) – The following is an 8 July 2003 JED letter to the head of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC): Kinshasa, 8 July 2003 Ambassador William Lacy Swing Head of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) KINSHASA/GOMBE Mr. Ambassador, Re: media worker’s […]
(JED/IFEX) – The following is an 8 July 2003 JED letter to the head of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC):
Kinshasa, 8 July 2003
Ambassador William Lacy Swing
Head of the United Nations Organization Mission
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC)
KINSHASA/GOMBE
Mr. Ambassador,
Re: media worker’s death in Bunia
Journaliste en danger (JED), a Kinshasa-based non-governmental organisation dedicated to the defence and promotion of press freedom and the Alerts Network of the Central African Media Organisation (Organisation des médias d’Afrique centrale, OMAC), has learned, via various sources, of the death of Mr. Akité Kisembo, aged 28, an interpreter for the Agence France Presse (AFP) news agency’s special envoy in Bunia. Mr. Kisembo was killed in Bunia, in the DRC’s northeastern region, a zone controlled by the United Nations-mandated Multinational Force, which is under French command.
According to various testimonies, Mr. Akité Kisembo was abducted by a group of militia members as he was interviewing civilians on behalf of the AFP’s special correspondent, who had recruited him locally. As such, we consider Kisembo to be a media worker. He was abducted because of the journalistic work he was carrying out. According to the 8 July 2003 edition of the daily Le Potentiel (issue 2869), Kisembo witnessed the Multinational Force’s evacuation of the Union of Congolese Patriots’ (Union des patriotes congolais, UPC) headquarters on Wednesday 2 July 2003, along with several foreign journalists. The UPC is a militia led by Mr. Thomas Lubanga, a Bunia-based warlord. According to eyewitnesses quoted by the daily, UPC militia members allegedly threatened Kisembo, calling him a “collaborator.”
Kisembo was reportedly killed the day after the evacuation operation. The AFP, as quoted in Le Potentiel, said Kisembo was abducted and assassinated by Thomas Lubanga’s men. According to Le Potentiel, journalists questioned Thomas Lubanga about the killing. He denied his men’s involvement in the affair, but also presented an “eyewitness” to the journalists, who was allegedly present at Kisembo’s execution. According to this “witness”, members of a rival Lendu militia allegedly abducted the media worker and six other persons and executed them a short time later.
Independent sources in Bunia have dismissed Mr. Thomas Lubanga’s account of events. These sources have said the abductors and killers of Kisembo and the six others were in fact UPC men, who viewed Kisembo’s work with the foreign press in general, and the AFP in particular, as an act of treason that “demanded exemplary punishment.”
In light of his daily work on behalf of the AFP, we consider Kisembo to be a media worker and, as such, he is yet another victim of the enemies of press freedom. JED considers this premeditated murder to be a serious press freedom violation that must not remain unpunished.
In light of the information that is currently available concerning this incident, JED holds Mr. Thomas Lubanga, the UPC militia leader, responsible, at least indirectly, for this media worker’s assassination. As such, JED asks:
– That an international investigative team be created and sent to Bunia in order to clarify the circumstances surrounding the abduction and assassination of Akité Kisembo and determine who is responsible for the killing;
– That those who ordered and carried out Kisembo’s execution be brought before the International Criminal Court.
Sincerely,
Tshivis T. Tshivuadi
Secretary-General
D. M’Baya Tshimanga
President
