(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 21 August 2006 RSF open letter to President Joseph Kabila and Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba: Paris, 21 August 2006 Dear Mr. Kabila and Mr. Bemba, Anyone turning on a TV right now in the Democratic Republic of Congo is plunged into a howling melee of dangerous insults and vilification. Each […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 21 August 2006 RSF open letter to President Joseph Kabila and Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba:
Paris, 21 August 2006
Dear Mr. Kabila and Mr. Bemba,
Anyone turning on a TV right now in the Democratic Republic of Congo is plunged into a howling melee of dangerous insults and vilification. Each of you swears to avenge “his” deaths by brandishing “his” bodies to the public every morning on the stations you control. For your supporters, this is the surest way to mobilise, to prepare for battle, to pump themselves up with resentment and hate for the opposing party. Television is a political instrument of phenomenal power. It can be a fantastic tool for educating and raising awareness but it can also become a dreadful weapon in the service of lies and violence. The vocabulary used on your stations is one of merciless war, not electoral debate. This is no longer tolerable. It has become a threat. Tomorrow, you could find yourselves held responsible for a string of serious crimes.
Reporters Without Borders is writing the day after the announcement of partial results to address a cry of alarm to you. Right now, it would just take a single spark to set the entire Democratic Republic of Congo ablaze. But if you were to quickly realise the danger stalking your country, a way could be found to prevent the imminent violence. And the peace that both of you promised could become a reality. This means accepting that the media you control are playing an extremely risky game.
You are both candidates for a presidential mandate that would make the winner responsible for keeping the peace. You therefore have a duty to silence the hate media you maintain, as well as to control the armed men who are loyal to you.
Reporters Without Borders does not support anyone. In recent months we have, without bias, addressed all those who share responsibility for the state of extreme ferment in which the Democratic Republic of Congo has been plunged – politicians, journalists and ordinary citizens. Our appeals have not been heeded and the situation is now close to disaster.
It is now just the two of you left, one on one. And it is now up to you to stop turning a deaf ear. If you do nothing, all that you and your supporters have built will collapse in ruins. There will be nothing left but hate, weapons and criminals screaming orders into microphones.
Reporters Without Borders urges you to finally heed its appeal before your country tips over into generalised violence fuelled and organised by a compliant press. That would be a nightmare not just for human rights and press freedom activists but also and above all for the Congolese public, for all those who placed their trust in you, and for you as well. It is not too late to act. You just need to be convinced.
Robert Ménard
Secretary-General
