(JED/IFEX) – On 6 August 2003, Etienne Bwande Bwana Pua, programming director of the national broadcaster Congolese National Radio-television’s (Radiotélévision nationale congolaise, RTNC) local station in Kisangani, the main town in Eastern province, was suspended for an indeterminate period by Alimasi Mayanga, the RTNC’s provincial director. Mayanga accused Bwana Pua of failing to include the […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 6 August 2003, Etienne Bwande Bwana Pua, programming director of the national broadcaster Congolese National Radio-television’s (Radiotélévision nationale congolaise, RTNC) local station in Kisangani, the main town in Eastern province, was suspended for an indeterminate period by Alimasi Mayanga, the RTNC’s provincial director. Mayanga accused Bwana Pua of failing to include the programmes “Vers un Congo nouveau” (“Towards a New Congo”) and “RCD et nous” (“RCD and us”) on the station’s new programming schedule. Both are propaganda programmes that focus on the former rebel group Congolese Rally for Democracy (Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie, RCD/Goma).
Several eyewitnesses in Kisangani told JED that the provincial director took this decision in response to the frequent threats he has been receiving since 2 August. Mayanga has also been under increasing pressure since the pro-RCD/Goma governor of Eastern province, Jean-Pierre Bilusa, asked him for a formal explanation for the withdrawal of the former rebel group’s programmes from RTNC/Kisangani’s programming schedule.
