New York, November 7, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s release of a Belgian journalist, his interpreter, and his driver, who were kidnapped on Tuesday while reporting on the war in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. CPJ remains concerned about the safety of journalists in the rebel-held town of Kiwanja, where the only radio station…
We issued the following statement today after the release of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung journalist Thomas Scheen, interpreter Charles Ntiricya and driver Roger Bangue, who were kidnapped by a pro-government militia last Tuesday in Kiwanja, in the war-torn east of the Democratic Republic of Congo…
The BBC reported this week that a minister in the Democratic Republic of Congo has ordered a jail in the capital, Kinshasa, to release a dozen goats, saying the animals were being held there illegally. According to the story: “The minister said many police had serious gaps in their knowledge and they would be sent…
Dear Mr. Nsenda, We are deeply alarmed by the ongoing imprisonment of newspaper editor Nsimba Ponte and his assistant Davin Tondo. A government prosecutor said this week that their months-long pre-trial detention was illegal, and yet the two have been denied bail and were not charged until June 6, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED). In addition, Ponte is in poor health.
New York, May 22, 2008–Three men accused of killing Congolese journalist Serge Maheshe in 2007 were convicted and sentenced to death, while two others were acquitted in a retrial that ended Wednesday. The trial failed to establish a clear motive for the crime, according to news reports and local journalists.
New York, April 21, 2008—A broadcast journalist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo pressed charges today against an Angolan diplomat, alleging he was beaten unconscious by the diplomat and his aides on Saturday, according to local journalists. Journalists familiar with their colleague’s station, Radio Télévision Mwangaza, told CPJ that the attack was in reprisal…
By Joel SimonIn August 2008, when the Olympic torch is lit in Beijing, more than 20,000 journalists will be on hand to cover the competition between the world’s greatest athletes. Behind the scenes, another competition will be taking place. If the Chinese government has its way, this one will remain hidden. It will be a…
When Press Freedom and Democracy Are Out of StepBy Tom RhodesBallots may have replaced bullets in much of Africa since the dawn of this new century, but one of the great political ironies for at least part of the continent has been a loss of press freedom following the voting. Leaders in a large swath…
The historic November 2006 presidential election–the first since the country’s independence from Belgium in 1960–was followed by a yearlong nationwide wave of media abuses as the new administration struggled with rampant unrest, insecurity, and impunity in attacks against media workers. Interim President Joseph Kabila defeated former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba in the divisive 2006 presidential…
JANUARY 9, 2008 Posted February 21, 2008 Maurice Kayombo, Les Grands EnjeuxIMPRISONED Police in the capital Kinshasa picked up Kayombo, a reporter for the private monthly Les Grands Enjeux, after he went to the office of Mining Ministry Permanent Secretary Christophe Kaninio to seek comments about allegations of corruption for a story that had not…