On January 22, 2026, Thomson Unji Batangalwa was detained by police in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern city of Baraka. Unji reports for several privately owned outlets, including Uvira-based Radio Le Messager du Peuple, online Iyamba Lyetu TV, and South Africa’s Channel Africa radio station.
Police arrested Unji as he was preparing to travel to Uvira, South Kivu province’s second largest city, according to the Kivu Times and CPJ’s interview with Jonas Seba, coordinator of the Réseau des Journalistes de Fizi (REJFI), a local journalists’ network, who visited Unji in detention.
Seba told CPJ that Unji said he was detained on the orders of a Wazalendo leader, General Amuri Yakutumba, who accused him of collaborating with the M23 rebel group by interviewing their members shortly after the rebels captured Uvira on December 10, 2025. The city was retaken by the army on January 19, 2026.
On December 13, 2025, Unji interviewed local leaders on Radio Le Messager du Peuple who reassured people that it was safe to attend church following the rebel takeover of Uvira. Two of these men have been publicly associated with the M23: Joelle Namunene and Muhivwa Godefroy.
The Congolese online outlet Africa Monde also reported that Unji was arrested on Yakutumba’s orders, although CPJ was unable to find contacts for Yakutumba.
Two people with knowledge of Unji’s journalism told CPJ, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals, that the reporter was not allied with the rebels and maintained editorial independence, citing his interviews with army and Wazalendo leaders.
The DRC’s mineral-rich, eastern region has been unstable since the end of the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when ethnic conflict, combatants, and refugees spilled over into the DRC.
In 2025, CPJ documented an increase in threats and violence against journalists, as the M23 and its River Congo Alliance (AFC) coalition made unprecedented gains against the government and its allied Wazalendo militia.
CPJ’s January 2026 requests for comment via phone to interim army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mak Hazukay Mongba and via messaging app to Baraka’s interim mayor, Marie Mukandja did not receive any responses.
Unji was released on February 4, 2026, after paying US$300 bail.