19 06 14 RwB – Journalists Threatened, Political Broadcasts Banned During Election

Media
freedom is being undermined by political tension linked to local elections and
to uncertainty surrounding the 2016 presidential election.

The
tension has been fuelled by the government's announcement of a constitutional
reform before the presidential election. The opposition fears that President
Joseph Kabila wants to run for a third term, which is prohibited under the
constitution as it stands.

Journalists
have been among the leading victims of the tension. Some have been threatened by
gunmen for broadcasting undesired interviews or for reporting corruption
allegations. Some have even had to go into hiding.

In
Likasi, in the southeastern province of Katanga, Mulongo wa Kabikuyu, the head
of the city's communication and media service, imposed censorship on local
community and religious medias on 12 June, announcing a ban on any broadcasts of
a political nature although local elections are being held in the
region.

"We
call on the authorities to guarantee freedom of expression and to protect
journalists, so that they are able to make their contribution to the democratic
debate," said Virginie Dangles, deputy head of research and advocacy at
Reporters Without Borders. "We also urge the authorities in Likasi to lift the
ban on political broadcasts announced on 12 June."

Frequent
threats

As
well as the Likasi ban, there have been other violations of freedom of
expression in recent days.

The
NGO Journalist in Danger reported on 6 June that the homes of two journalists
based in Kiriba in the far-eastern province of South Kivu, David Munyaga and
Bienvenu Malega of Radio Ondes FM, were visited by armed men suspected of being
Burundian soldiers, who threatened their families. The two journalists have been
living in hiding ever since.

Journalists
with Radio Liberté, a radio station based in the north-central city of Basoko,
were reportedly threatened by Dido Bilali, a Congolese army non-commissioned
officer on 10 June in connection with a series of interviews it broadcast on 5
June about Bilali's alleged abuses. Gen. Jean-Claude Kifwa, a senior army
officer, denied Radio Liberté's claims when contacted by Reporters Without
Borders. "All that is false, totally false," he said.

Finally,
Reporters Without Borders learned on 11 June that a journalist in the western
city of Bandundu has repeatedly been threatened with arrest by members of the
National Intelligence Agency (ARN). According to the Observatory of Media
Freedom in Africa (OLPA), Bandundu province governor Jean Kamisendu ordered the
journalist's arrest after he accused the governor of embezzling 11 million
Congolese francs in a programme broadcast by RTVS1 on 30
May.

Democratic
Republic of Congo is ranked 151st out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters
Without Borders press freedom index.