**Updates IFEX alert of 26 April 2000** (JED/IFEX) – On Monday 24 April 2000, Bruno Kadima and José Moukanda Ntumba, managing editor and technician, respectively, for the Kinshasa weekly newspaper “Umoja”, were questioned by agents of the Congolese national police (Police nationale congolaise, PNC). Following the questioning, they were incarcerated in the cells of the […]
**Updates IFEX alert of 26 April 2000**
(JED/IFEX) – On Monday 24 April 2000, Bruno Kadima and José Moukanda Ntumba, managing editor and technician, respectively, for the Kinshasa weekly newspaper “Umoja”, were questioned by agents of the Congolese national police (Police nationale congolaise, PNC). Following the questioning, they were incarcerated in the cells of the National Information Agency (Agence nationale des renseignements, ANR) in Kinshasa/Ngaliema and then moved to Kinshasa/Gombe.
No official justification has been communicated with regards to the arrests or the occupation of “Umoja”‘s editorial offices in Kinshasa/Kalamu, which lasted for several hours.
Nevertheless, according to information obtained by JED, “Umoja” has been accused of publishing two articles entitled “Here are the first eight articles of the Accords of Lemera” and “Slaughter at the N’djili Airport. Kabila legally responsible.” In the first article, which appeared in the 4 April edition #1859, and which continues to be sold clandestinely in photocopy form, the newspaper makes public eight Articles which are part of the Accord of Lemera (a village in the province of south-Kivu) signed on 23 October 1996 by the founders of the AFDL (Alliance of Democratic Forces for Liberation), an armed movement that, under the leadership of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, drove Mobutu Sese Seko out of power on 17 May 1997.
Article 4 of the Accord states that, “Preaching pan-Africanism, the Alliance commits to give up 300 km at the Congolese borders, inside the country, to create security for its Ugandan, Rwandan and Burundian neighbours against the rebel insurrection”. Article 5 stipulates that, “As soon as the Alliance has won victory, a special reward will be allocated to the allies. Determining this reward is the responsibility of the supreme authorities of the Alliance”. Article 7 promises Congolese nationality “collectively to the Banyamulenge comrades and to the other populations of Rwandan origin established in the country before the date of independence of our country (30 June 1960)”.
The newspaper’s article cites a piece of work by Claudia McElroy, television producer for the Sky TV Chain in London, as the source of the Accord of Lemera’s Articles. According to “Umoja”, her work was entitled “Search of the power”, and was published by Penguin in London.
“Umoja”‘s second article (edition number 1861 of 18 April) alluded to the 14 April explosion of an ammunition depot at the Kinshasa/N’Djili international airport which killed approximately 100 people. In “Umoja”‘s opinion, Kabila and his government are legally responsible because “a civilian airport should not serve as a munitions warehouse”.
