(JED/IFEX) – On Monday 26 March 20001, at 1:00 a.m. (local time), a dozen armed persons in military and civilian dress, including a woman, burst into the family home of Mukebayi Nkoso, publication director of the Kinshasa-based twice-weekly “The Post”. The unidentified persons knocked on one of the windows and asked to see Nkoso. When […]
(JED/IFEX) – On Monday 26 March 20001, at 1:00 a.m. (local time), a dozen armed persons in military and civilian dress, including a woman, burst into the family home of Mukebayi Nkoso, publication director of the Kinshasa-based twice-weekly “The Post”. The unidentified persons knocked on one of the windows and asked to see Nkoso. When one of the journalist’s parents told the visitors that he was not home, they threatened to break down the front door in order to search the house. The intruders left a few minutes later, after unsuccessfully attempting to pull the security alarm out from one of the windows.
Nkoso is known for his critical articles about the Kinshasa government’s policies, particularly the conduct of Minister of Communications Dominique Sakombi Inongo. In recent months, he published many articles denouncing the placement of the private station RTKM (Radiotélévision Kin Malebo) under government supervision, without any decision by the courts or tribunals (see IFEX alerts of 13 March and 8 February 2001, 12 and 1 December, 3 and 1 November, 30, 23 and 3 October and 21 September 2000).
RTKM is owned by journalist Aubain Ngongo Luwowo, the former minister of information under the Mobutu Sese Seko regime, who is currently in exile abroad.
