Committee to Protect Journalists
Country Report: The Democratic Republic Of Congo (formerly Zaire)
As of December 31, 1998

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Despite widespread optimism that Laurent-Désiré Kabila and his Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (ADFL), who toppled the 32-year dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko, would bring greater freedom to the people of the country he renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo, he has sadly replaced one despot with another. The country's press has faced accusations of subversion and espionage ever since Kabila seized power -- more than 71 journalists were detained without charge, attacked, or harassed since he took control in Kinshasa -- and this year saw a record-breaking number of incidents of press freedom violations, with no end to the crisis in sight.

Journalists who have written about crackdowns against citizens espousing pro-democracy views under Kabila have themselves been imprisoned. No journalist has been immune from Kabila's intolerance for opposing views. When images of human rights violations by ADFL forces appeared on state-owned Radio Television National du Congo (RTNC), security agents quickly rounded up journalists working for the television station.

In August, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, a rebel movement, took up arms against Kabila; by late August, the rebels were on the outskirts of Kinshasa. Kabila labeled the rebellion a foreign invasion by Rwanda and Uganda, former allies who had helped bring him to power, and whose involvement was later revealed primarily by Ugandan independent journalists.

State media emphasized U.S. ties to the governments of Uganda and Rwanda, and Communications Adviser Dominique Sakombi accused foreign correspondents and employees of the international media of being "auxiliaries of the aggressors." Amid this increasingly antagonistic climate, foreign correspondents encountered hostile crowds, and soldiers who accused them of being spies and who arbitrarily detained them, even as journalists portrayed the humanitarian crisis in Kinshasa caused by rebels who cut the city's power supply and disrupted the distribution of drinking water. When one photographer took pictures of a woman carrying water on her head, Information Minister Didier Mumenge personally confiscated the film. Officials lectured journalists on ethics, while the state media broadcast hate messages against Tutsis, who were collectively accused of supporting the rebellion.

On August 25, the government confined the movement of foreign correspondents to organized pools. Many journalists were perplexed by the arbitrariness of the restrictions: Those in the pools were allowed to witness and report on Kabila's troops shooting captured rebels and throwing them from bridges to their death, while colleagues who ventured out on their own had been arrested--and in the case of a Reuters television crew, beaten in custody -- or filming Kinshasa street scenes.

In late August, after troops from Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Chad poured into the country to support Kabila's efforts to repel the rebels from the capital, most of the international media headed home. Congolese journalists were left to report the news, without support or protection. State security agents raided the daily Le Soft, arresting staff and confiscating computer equipment after the newspaper published an article about a deal involving the government and a major diamond and mineral mining company whose chairman is Zimbabwean by birth. Authorities perceived the article as suggesting they were selling off the country's vast riches in return for Zimbabwe's military assistance.

In late November, CPJ wrote to Pope John Paul II shortly before he was to meet with Kabila at the Vatican, urging him to raise the press freedom crisis in the DRC and to use the moral authority of his office to seek the amelioration of conditions for journalists. At year's end, local journalists expressed little hope for an improvement of the press freedom climate. Instead, they anticipated an escalation of harassment and intimidation, citing the country's ongoing war and the Kabila government's penchant for blaming its military failures on the independent press.
Attacks on the Press in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998
Date Journalist Incident
12/27/98 Mwin Murub Fel, RTKM Harassed
12/26/98 Robert Ndaye Tshisense, KHRT Harassed
12/26/98 Freddy Loseke Lisoumbou, La Libre Afrique Attacked
12/19/98 Yvette Idi Lupantsha, Radio et Télévision National du Congo (RTNC) Imprisoned
12/19/98 Risasi Gisonga, Radio et Télévision National du Congo (RTNC) Imprisoned
11/21/98 Michel Museme Diawe, Radio et Télévision National du Congo (RTNC) Imprisoned
11/19/98 Franck Baku, La Reference Plus Legal Action
11/19/98 Kitungano Milenge, La Reference Plus Legal Action
11/5/98 Awazi Kharomon, Le Soft Imprisoned
11/5/98 Lubamba Lutoko, Le Soft Imprisoned
11/5/98 Bébé Ediya, Le Soft Imprisoned
11/3/98 Gustave Kalenga, La Flamme du Congo Imprisoned
11/1/98 Mbakulu Pambu Diambu, Radio-Télévision Matadi (RTM) Imprisoned
10/29/98 Bayard Kabango Mbaya, La Flamme du Congo Imprisoned
10/21/98 Clovis Mwamba Kayembe, L'Alarme Imprisoned
10/16/98 Paulin Tusumba Nkazi A Kanda, Le Peuple Imprisoned
10/3/98 Belmonde Magloire Missinhoun, La Pointe Congo Missing
9/28/98 Albert Ntumba, L'Alerte Imprisoned
9/28/98 Deby Bonsange, L'Alerte Imprisoned
9/9/98 Semy Dieye, Voix du Peuple Imprisoned
9/9/98 Lokota Itoko, Voix du Peuple Imprisoned
9/9/98 Kuku Mamenga, Voix du Peuple Imprisoned
9/9/98 Ntole Demazu, Voix du Peuple Imprisoned
9/9/98 Imbanda Lokenga, Voix du Peuple Imprisoned
9/9/98 Pronto, Voix du Peuple Imprisoned
9/1/98 Modeste Mutinga, Le Potentiel Harassed
8/29/98 Stephen Smith, Liberation Harassed
8/24/98 Foreign Correspondents Threatened
8/24/98 Sipho Maseko, Reuters Television Attacked
8/24/98 Roger Koy, Reuters Television Attacked
8/23/98 Michael Huggins, Worldwide Television News (WTN) Imprisoned
8/23/98 Michael Pohl, Worldwide Television News (WTN) Imprisoned
8/23/98 Jonathan Colignon, Worldwide Television News (WTN) Imprisoned
8/20/98 Hugh Neville, Agence France Press (AFP) Imprisoned
8/20/98 Lara Santoro, Newsweek Imprisoned
8/19/98 David Guttenfelder, The Associated Press Threatened
8/1/98 Freddy Loseke Lisoumbou, La Libre Afrique Imprisoned
7/11/98 Modeste Mutinga, Le Potentiel Harassed
6/15/98 Achille Ekele Ngolmya, Pot Pourri Imprisoned
6/15/98 Guy Kassongo Kilmbwe, Pot Pourri Imprisoned
6/3/98 Nlanda Ibanda, Le Soft Threatened
5/25/98 Kidimbu Mpese, Le Soft Imprisoned
5/25/98 Awazi Kharomon, Le Soft Imprisoned
5/21/98 Thierry Kyalumba, Vision Imprisoned
5/21/98 Kingongo Saleh, Vision Harassed
5/21/98 Bonane Ya Nzanzi, Vision Harassed
5/15/98 Jose Kajangwa, Radio et Télévision National du Congo (RTNC) Imprisoned
4/18/98 Andre Ipakala, La Reference Plus Imprisoned
4/12/98 Peter Boehm, Die Tagezeitung Imprisoned, Legal Action, Expelled
4/11/98 Michel Luya, Le Palmares Imprisoned
4/1/98 Radio Amani Censored
2/25/98 Modeste Mutinga, Le Potentiel Imprisoned
2/20/98 Le Soft International Censored
2/7/98 Albert Bonsange Yema, L'Alarme,L'Essor Africain Imprisoned
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