AT least five journalists covering the Presidential and legislative elections in DR Congo, Africa’s fifth largest in which over 44 million have cast their votes to elect a new leader, have suffered various forms of humiliations amid delayed results with incumbent Felix Tshisekedi reported to have taken an early lead.
Journalists, Pascal Mulegwa, Réné Mobembo were victims of the vicious attacks by political party militants during their course of duty while their broadcasting station, French radio station RFI and Perfect Television were ordered to go off air for unspecified reasons, a development media watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned.
According to reports availed to CPJ, supporters of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) political party—which is led by current president Felix Tshisekedi—punched, dragged, and threw Mulegwa into a gutter, according to media reports and Mulegwa, who spoke to CPJ.
Mulegwa, a correspondent for the French Broadcaster, Radio France International, was on assignment covering voting in Kinshasa, the capital. Mulengwa contended that his attackers, some of whom were armed with knives, angrily accused him of working for a French outlet that was critical of Tshisekedi.
The attackers broke his prescription glasses as they dragged him. Mulegwa said he contacted DRC Minister of Communications and Media Minister Patrick Muyaya after the attack. Muyaya then sent a vehicle that took the journalist to a hospital for treatment of a sprained right ankle and discomfort in his jaw.
CPJ, in reaction, argued that the action was an infringement of media rights to cover the ongoing and closely contested poll, which has attracted over 22 presidential hopefuls together with incumbent Tshisekedi who is vying for a second five-year-term in 2018.
“Journalists play an essential role in the democratic process, which means their safety is paramount as they report on ongoing electoral processes in the DRC,” said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ sub-Saharan Africa Representative, in Nairobi.
He adds: “Accountability for the attacks on Pascal Mulegwa and Réné Mobembo, as well as other journalists in recent weeks, must be a priority, and authorities must ensure broadcasters are not censored for their election coverage.”
There have been other media personnel forced into such attacks before, during and after the casting of the ballot papers awaiting final results which has been extended beyond the projected days of announcing the final winner.
Prior to the election, on December 16, Reagean Mata Likenge, the president of the youth league of the Let’s Act for the Republic (AREP) political party in Mankanza, a town in Equateur province, ordered supporters of the party to attack Mobembo, editor-in-chief of the privately owned Radio Liberté Mankanza broadcaster, according to Mobembo and a local civil society actor who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, who both spoke with CPJ.
The attack took place as Mobembo worked to cover the campaign of Guylain Bikoko, a legislative election candidate for the AREP political party.
Mobembo told CPJ that about seven AREP supporters punched him in the face and confiscated his cellphone, which he was using to report on a campaign meeting. Injured on the lips, Mobembo said he then sought treatment at a local hospital. Mobembo said Mata had previously tried to forbid him from covering the AREP’s campaign.
CPJ called Mata, but his phone was turned off. Contacted by telephone, the provincial governor of Equateur, Dieudonné Boloko Bolumbu, told CPJ that he had not been informed of the attack, before the line disconnected.
Also on December 20, the Congolese media regulator, the Higher Council of Audiovisual and Communication (CSAC), called and ordered a technician from the privately-owned television company Bleusat to cut the programming signal of Perfect Télévision in Kinshasa, according to media reports and Perfect Télévision’s general director, Peter Tiani, who spoke with CPJ.
Tiani said the order stemmed from Perfect Télévision’s reports on polling stations not opening on time and missing electoral kits at several voting centers in Kinshasa and across the country. As of December 22, Perfect Télévision remains off air.
Oscar Kabamba, the CSAC’s general rapporteur, told CPJ that he was outside the country and was not informed that Perfect Télévision’s signal had been cut. CSAC president Christian Bosembe did not respond to CPJ’s calls or messages.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) joined the condemnation of the attacks on journalists by “presidential party militants” during the elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
General elections (presidential, legislative, provincial and local) were held on Wednesday and continued on Thursday in the DRC, in a highly tense political and security climate. President Félix Tshisekedi is standing for a second five-year term.
Pascal Mulegwa, RFI’s correspondent, “was beaten by militants of the presidential party (UDPS) in a voting centre in the capital”, while covering the elections, RSF said in a statement.
“They dragged me along the ground and took my belongings, accusing me of working for RFI, which they say they hate”, said the journalist, quoted in a statement by the Association of International Press Correspondents in the DRC (ACPI-RDC).
RFI’s management “strongly condemns” the attack on Pascal Mulegwa, who was “attacked and roughed up by supporters of a presidential candidate”, the radio station said. RFI “will continue to cover the elections” in the DRC “with the professionalism and balance that characterise the work of its journalists”, it added.
When contacted, an official of the UDPS (Union for Democracy and Social Progress) was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.
RSF, in a statement is cited as urging the Congolese authorities “to protect media professionals so that they can provide unrestricted coverage” of the elections. It deplores several other cases of attacks and threats against journalists, which it has documented since the start of the election campaign on 19 November.
In the space of a month, at least five journalists have been attacked and threatened by political figures or their supporters, according to RSF.
In addition to this presidential campaign punctuated by press freedom violations, “President Tshisekedi’s term in office has been marked by many other abuses against journalists”, notably the arrest on 8 September of Stanis Bujakera, correspondent for Jeune Afrique and Reuters. The journalist has since been detained and put on trial for an article implicating military intelligence in the murder of an opponent.
The (DRC)’s presidential election is facing a crisis of legitimacy amid opposition calls for the vote to be annulled due to alleged fraud. Five opposition candidates, including former provincial Governor Moise Katumbi, described the outcome of the poll as being tainted by “massive fraud.”
Five other opposition leaders, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege and former oil executive Martin Fayulu, have called for a protest march against the result next Wednesday.
“We will protest against the irregularities noted during the voting operations,” they said in a letter to the governor of Kinshasa, where they plan to rally.
About 44 million people in the mineral-rich Central African nation were registered to vote in the elections to choose the country’s president, national and regional lawmakers, and local councilors.
