Attacks on the Press in 2010 - Committee to Protect Journalists

<strong>Attacks</strong> on the Press in 2010Democratic Republic of CongoOn the defensive over criticism of its human rights record and its handlingof the conflict with rebels in eastern Congo, President JosephKabila’s government censored news coverage and detained several journalistsduring the year.Given the government’s record of press harassment, local journalistsand the Kinshasa-based press freedom group Journaliste En Danger (JED)expressed fears that the government would ratchet up repression in theyear before presidential elections scheduled for November 2011. JED leadersthemselves were summoned by security services three times in 2010 forunspecified reasons, although they declined to report in each instance, JEDPresident Donat Mbaya said. The historic 2006 presidential and parliamentaryvote, the first since the country’s independence from Belgium in 1960,was marked by arrests, censorship, and attacks on the press, CPJ researchshowed. With leading opposition figures Jean-Pierre Bemba and EtienneTshisekedi in exile, President Kabila appeared the favorite to win re-electionin November 2011, the second polls since the end of the 1998-2003war, which claimed an estimated 5 million lives. But divisions within Kabila’sruling coalition, the jailing and murders of critics, lingering poverty, anexpiring mandate for international peacekeepers, and persistent conflict inthe eastern provinces sowed political uncertainty.The mysterious death in June of leading human rights activist FloribertChebeya also stirred fears of worsening repression. Chebeya, head ofVoix des Sans Voix, or Voice of the Voiceless, was found dead in his car,hands tied behind his back, shortly after he was summoned for a meetingwith national police chief John Numbi. His last text message to his wifesaid the appointment had been cancelled.Those concerns grew after the October death in a military campof a man arrested for throwing rocks at Kabila’s motorcade. Authoritiesclaimed the man committed suicide, but relatives said he had beenmistreated in custody. Kabila addressed criticism of his country’s humanrights record in October at a summit of Francophone government leadersfrom around the world. “The Congolese government is determinedto ensure that any crime—whether it is against a journalist or against thepopulation in Kinshasa, in the east, or in the whole country—does notremain unpunished,” Agence France-Presse quoted the president as saying.Most press freedom abuses occurred in western Bas-Congo province,home of the capital, Kinshasa, and seat of the national government,according to CPJ research. Authorities detained several journalists inBas-Congo on criminal defamation complaints filed by officials over32