‘Breach of guidelines' leads to suspension

Kinshasa - Michel Mutabesha Bakuza, a reporter at Radio-Télévision nationale congolaise's (RTNC - the public broadcaster) Goma station, was suspended without pay on 8 May 2007 by RTNC-Goma director Gabriel Lukeka after broadcasting an interview with a former rebel general. Goma is the capital of North Kivu province, in eastern DRC.

The suspension stems from Mutabesha's 6 May interview with General Laurent Kunda Batware, an ex-warlord in the Masisi territory (about 75km from Goma), during which the general expressed his disillusion over the integration process that was to reconcile the local militias with the national forces. Kunda went on to say that he was prepared to take his men out of the national army (Forces armées de la RDC - FARDC) since in his view the process had been mismanaged and many of his men had yet to be integrated.

Lukeka, apparently under significant pressure, claimed the interview with Kunda "breached RTNC editorial guidelines, which must support government interests."

The media watch-dog organisation Journalist in Danger (JED) has expressed outrage at the suspension of what it says was nothing more than a journalist who was simply doing his job. Bakuza was doing no more than trying to present the story of a man who has been a prominent figure in media headlines for years and with whom the government has negotiated military integration.

The organisation has called on RTNC Chief Operating Officer Emmanuel Kipolongo to revoke the suspension, as well as any disciplinary action taken against other RTNC Goma journalists involved in the interview.

The role of a public broadcaster is to give equal time to all sides in the Congolese crisis - and that is neither a crime nor a breach of professional conduct.

Article by courtesy JED