Franck Kangundu

New York, September 1, 2006—Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo are holding a former soldier and two civilians in connection with the July 8 murder of freelance journalist Bapuwa Mwamba, according to the local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger and Agence France-Presse.

Kinshasa regional police chief Gen. Patrick Sabiti told journalists Thursday that the three men were detained July 25 in the southwestern port city of Matadi. AFP said the three had been charged with murder but no date had been set for a court appearance. They were named as Vungu Mbembé, an army deserter, Mangenele Lowawi and Kunku Makwala Sekula.

The murder and attempted murder of journalists in 2005 sent a chill through the independent press in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Journalists operated in a tense pre-electoral climate, enduring threats and harassment from government officials and other powerful figures. Rampant corruption and a weak judiciary in a country still bearing the scars of civil war gave them little recourse to justice. The situation worsened after President Joseph Kabila postponed June elections for up to a year.

New York, December 13, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces the threatening messages sent to the local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) a day after it released a hard-hitting report on abuses against journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On December 10, JED President Donat M'baya Tshimanga, Secretary-General Tshivis Tshivuadi, and staff members Charles Mushizi and Esther Banakayi all received an identical, anonymous text message on their mobile phones. The message said: "You are going to disappear one by one if you do not publicly announce that you are stopping your activities. You have 10 days." The message also threatened their families, according to JED. Efforts to trace the owner of the phone were to no avail, the organization added.

New York, November 8, 2005—A court in the Democratic Republic of Congo today freed journalist Jean-Marie Kanku on bail after 12 days of detention, press freedom group Journaliste en danger (JED) said. But journalist Patrice Booto, who was detained last week without charge, remains behind bars, JED said.

Local journalists raised the detention of both men in a meeting yesterday with Vice President Azerias Ruberwa which was called to demand an independent inquiry into the November 3 murder of veteran journalist Franck Kangundu and his wife. The journalists also demanded better security for the media in the run-up to 2006 elections.

NOVEMBER 3, 2005
Posted: November 8, 2005

Franck Kangundu, La Référence Plus
KILLED—UNCONFIRMED

Kangundu, a veteran political affairs journalist at the independent daily La Référence Plus, was shot dead shortly after midnight by unidentified assassins who accosted him at his home in the capital, Kinshasa. The attackers also killed Kangundu's wife, Hélène Mpaka.

New York, November 3, 2005—Franck Kangundu, a veteran political affairs journalist at the independent daily La Référence Plus, was shot dead shortly after midnight by unidentified assassins who accosted him at his home in the capital, Kinshasa. The attackers also killed Kangundu's wife, Hélène Mpaka.

The Kinshasa-based press freedom organization Journaliste en Danger (JED) reported that several masked men approached Kangundu in front of his house, forced their way in, and shot his wife as she tried to escape. When Kangundu offered them money and his car if they would let him go, the assailants replied that they had been "sent to kill him," according to witnesses interviewed by JED whose names were withheld. The assailants took the journalist's mobile phone before leaving.