(JED/IFEX) – On 20 November 2002, at 10:00 p.m. (local time), officers from the Congolese National Police’s Special Services branch stopped broadcasts of the private television station Canal Kin TV and sealed the station’s studio. Canal Kin TV was able to resume its broadcasts on 21 November at approximately 6:30 p.m., but police officers remain […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 20 November 2002, at 10:00 p.m. (local time), officers from the Congolese National Police’s Special Services branch stopped broadcasts of the private television station Canal Kin TV and sealed the station’s studio. Canal Kin TV was able to resume its broadcasts on 21 November at approximately 6:30 p.m., but police officers remain inside the studio. Minister of Justice Massudi Ngele reportedly ordered the reopening of the studio.
A few minutes prior to the interruption of programming, Canal Kin TV was broadcasting footage from an event marking the fourth anniversary of the creation of the Mouvement de libération du Congo (MLC, an armed rebel group) in Gbadolite. During the event, rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba commented on the recent United Nations report about the pillaging of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) natural resources.
Canal Kin TV is owned by the Bemba family. One of the sons, Jean-Pierre Bemba, leads the MLC, which controls the DRC’s north-eastern region, with Ugandan support. Since the signing of the Sun City agreement, MLC members travel to Kinshasa on a regular basis, and Canal Kin TV frequently broadcasts footage of MLC activities in the territories under its control.
