JUNE 30 and JULY 1, 2005
Posted: July 18, 2005
Luc Mikomo, RAGA TV
HARASSED
RAGA FM, RAGA TV, and RAGA Plus
CENSORED
As opposition groups protested a delay in national elections originally due to take place by June 30, security forces detained Mikomo, news director at RAGA TV, for several hours in the capital, Kinshasa.
According to local sources and the Kinshasa-based press freedom organization Journaliste en Danger (JED), RAGA TV had broadcast footage of antigovernment demonstrations. The following morning, government security forces cut the signal for RAGA TV, as well as for RAGA Plus and RAGA FM, a television channel and a radio station also run by the private RAGA Group, according to JED. JED reported that security forces also confiscated equipment essential to the company’s broadcasts.
On July 1, the High Authority on Media (HAM), a public agency created under the country’s 2002 peace accords, ordered a 10-day suspension of RAGA’s broadcasts. HAM accused RAGA of “blatantly partial” news coverage, and of broadcasting footage of the protests “without processing,” according to local sources. Several local journalists and JED expressed concern that the suspension was politically motivated. On July 11, the stations were allowed to begin broadcasting again.