RADIO JOURNALIST KILLED IN EASTERN DRC

UNCLAS KINSHASA 001074 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM KPAO CG SUBJECT: RADIO JOURNALIST KILLED IN EASTERN DRC REF: A) KINSHASA 270, B) KINSHASA 441, C) KINSHASA 1105 Sensitive but Unclassified. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Didace Namujimbo, a Radio Okapi journalist, was killed November 21 by an unidentified armed man in Bukavu, South Kivu province. This is the second Radio Okapi journalist assassinated in this town in the past eighteen months. Two other journalists were victims of violence in Kinshasa over the last couple of years. End summary. ¶2. (U) Didace Namujimbo was shot at point-blank range after a MONUC vehicle had dropped him off near his house around 9:30 p.m. on November 21. According to human rights NGO Journalistes En Danger (JED),a relative of Mr. Namujimbo said that the assassin apparently stole the victim's cell phones, but not the U.S. and Congolese currency that he carried in his pocket. It is not clear at this point whether the assassination is linked to Mr. Namujimbo's work as a journalist. Judicial authorities in Bukavu are currently investigating the case. ¶3. (U) In June 2007, Radio Okapi sub-editor Serge Maheshe was killed under similar circumstances in the same city. His death was followed by a botched and confused assassination trial. Similar trials also provided impunity for those behind the assassination of La Reference Plus journalist Frank Ngyke(ref A and B) in 2005 and the killing of Bapuwa Mwamba, a Le Phare reporter, in 2006 (ref C), both of whom were killed in Kinshasa. In a November 22 press release, JED stated that violence that targets journalists in the DRC feeds on impunity for the assassins and instigators and that trials are a travesty of justice. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: The brutal killings of Namujimbo, Maheshe, Mwamba and Ngyke are illustrative of the destructive effects of pervasive impunity in connection with violating the freedom and safety of journalists in the DRC. Although there is no obvious pattern of targeted violence against media representatives as a whole, the fact that individuals holding positions of political or military power can end the lives of dissenting or independent media professionals at will is itself cause for concern. End comment. GARVELINK