(JED/IFEX) – On 16 September 2003, Baryanga Rupuye, a senior official from the town of Kiwanja, banned Radio Communautaire Ushirika (RACOU). The station broadcasts in Kiwanja, Rutshuru, North Kivu province, a zone administered by the former rebel group Congolese Rally for Democracy (Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie, RCD/Goma). In a 16 September letter to RACOU […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 16 September 2003, Baryanga Rupuye, a senior official from the town of Kiwanja, banned Radio Communautaire Ushirika (RACOU). The station broadcasts in Kiwanja, Rutshuru, North Kivu province, a zone administered by the former rebel group Congolese Rally for Democracy (Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie, RCD/Goma).
In a 16 September letter to RACOU director Jean-Baptiste Kambale Kiyana, Rupuye says he took the decision because RACOU did not obtain the required prior authorisation to broadcast from Eugène Serufuzi, the RCD/Goma governor of North Kivu province. Rupuye claimed to be acting on the orders of Rutshuru Administrator Oscar Ndambiye.
In a telephone discussion with JED, RACOU’s director said he had repeatedly tried, but failed to obtain the required official authorisation, citing various administrative barriers.
The provincial governor’s office instead suggested that his station merge with another Kiwanja-based community radio station project operated by “Tout pour le développement et la Paix” (“Every Effort for Development and Peace”), a non-governmental organisation with close ties to to the RCD/Goma and North Kivu’s governor.
“It would be inappropriate for RACOU, which was launched by farmers, to merge with a political project that does not hide its tribal links,” Kambale explained.
