(JED/IFEX) – Télesphore Namukama, a radio programme host with Héritier de la Justice (Heir of Justice), a human rights organisation based in Bukavu, principal city of South Kivu province, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, was arrested on 12 February 2004, at 3:00 p.m. (local time), by Security and Intelligence Services (Direction de la sécurité […]
(JED/IFEX) – Télesphore Namukama, a radio programme host with Héritier de la Justice (Heir of Justice), a human rights organisation based in Bukavu, principal city of South Kivu province, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, was arrested on 12 February 2004, at 3:00 p.m. (local time), by Security and Intelligence Services (Direction de la sécurité et du renseignement, DSR) agents. The DSR is the local equivalent of the Kinshasa-based National Intelligence Agency (Agence nationale des renseignements, ANR). Namukama also hosts the Swahili-language radio programme “Plaidons pour la justice” (“Let us plead for justice”) with the Bukavu-based station Radio Sahuti ya Réhéma (The Voice of Mercy).
The DSR has accused the host of “Plaidons pour la justice” of “sowing anxiety within the local population” in the 10 February broadcast of his programme. In the programme, Namukama discussed the recent discovery of arms caches in Bukavu, which cost former provincial governor Xavier Ciribanya his job. Drawing lessons from the situation, Namukama concluded that it is unlikely that peace will return to South Kivu province in the foreseeable future.
JED’s Bukavu correspondent reported that Namukama was still under interrogation at the DSR’s offices at 6:00 p.m. on 12 February.
Following the broadcast of Namukama’s programme, DSR agents occupied Radio Sahuti ya Réhéma’s studio on 10 and 11 February.
