Scott Mayemba Bila - Committee to Protect Journalists

Scott Mayemba Bila researches, monitors, and documents attacks on press freedom in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mayemba joined CPJ in 2022. Before that, he was the principal researcher at Journalist in Danger (JED), which advocates for press freedom in the DRC. A trained journalist, Mayemba also worked as a correspondent for the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom organization and as a reporter in the capital Kinshasa for multiple media outlets.

M23 spokeperson Lawrence Kanyuka (2nd left), M23 leader Benjamin Mbonimpa (3rd left), Congo River Alliance leader Corneille Nangaa (3rd right) and M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa (2nd right) host a news conference in Goma on February 6, 2025. The M23 said it wanted to "liberate all of the Congo" in its first public meeting since seizing city.

Threats, exile, censorship: DRC journalists besieged in year of rebel rule

January 28, 2026 10:47 AM EST

For Congolese journalist Prince Cikala Mihigo, the first day of 2026 brought a brutal reminder of the risks of reporting: rebel soldiers beat and kicked him while questioning him about his work, leaving his face swollen and raw. Cikala was assaulted at a checkpoint in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern city of Bukavu,…