DR Congo: More Than 500 Attacks On The Press, 5 Journalists Killed In Tshisekedi’s First Term-JED Report

By Badylon Kawanda Bakiman

In this report, published on November 02, 2023 to mark the International Day Against Impunity for Crimes Committed Against Journalists, "Journaliste en danger (JED)", one of the organizations promoting and defending press freedom in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), criticizes President Tshisekedi's unfulfilled promises. On the political, judicial and security fronts, no concrete action has been taken to make the exercise of the journalist's profession safer, despite the adoption of a new press law resulting from the ‘’États généraux de la Communication et des médias’’, which has never been published in the Official Journal, more than eight months after its promulgation by the Head of State.

The report states that the consequences of these broken promises can be seen in the murders, threats, assaults and arrests of journalists, media closures and looting recorded every year since his accession to power. There will be 85 cases in 2019, 116 cases in 2020, 110 cases in 2021, 124 cases in 2022 and 88 cases in 2023.

The monitoring service of this structure has recorded at least 523 cases of various attacks against the press, including 5 journalists killed. At least 160 journalists were arrested, over 130 journalists and media professionals were victims of threats and physical violence, and 123 media outlets were attacked, closed down or their broadcasts banned.

Yet this five-year term was considered to be one of high hopes for Congolese journalists, after Joseph Kabila's long reign at the head of the DRC, which was marked by bullying, attacks and closures of media outlets, arrests and violence, sometimes even leading to the murder of journalists.

In January 2019, in his inaugural speech, President Félix Tshisekedi pledged to make the media "the true 4th estate; to work for the respect of fundamental rights, and to sensitize the security forces to respect the rights and freedoms of journalists to exercise their mission of information without fear of reprisals".

In this report, JED also highlights the cases of journalists killed or reported missing, particularly in the eastern provinces of the DRC plagued by violence from rebel groups.  At least 3 journalists were killed in 2021, and one has been missing since December 2020, after being abducted by militiamen.

The document is published in a crucial context characterized by the war that has been going on for years in the east of the country, and by preparations for the presidential and legislative elections due to be held on December 20, 2023.

President Tshisekedi reacted to this denunciation in his State of the Nation speech, delivered on November 14, 2023 to the Congress of National Deputies, Senators, religious denominations and ambassadors accredited to the DRC.

"In January 2019, the state of play of the exercise of press freedom established at my investiture revealed that a grid of four major challenges faced my commitment. These challenges were as follows: - law n°22-002 of June 22, 1996 had several weaknesses, mainly due to its repressive, incomplete, liberticidal and inappropriate nature; - the ineffectiveness of regulatory and self-regulatory bodies in enforcing the professional code of ethics and deontology; - the absence of a genuine statute for media professionals capable of protecting the profession from the inclusion of unqualified individuals; - the criminalization of press offences. Today, the situation of the press is better than it was yesterday, and I realize this every year when, together with journalists, I take part in the celebration of International Press Freedom Day", he declared.

President Tshisekedi added that in the space of four years, the DRC has gained 30 places in the "Reporter sans frontière" world press freedom barometer.

"Everything possible is being done to consolidate this new momentum, in order to clean up the media sector and professionalize journalists. My political action in this area has been essentially focused on two objectives, namely reform of the institutional normative framework for the exercise of press freedom, and the safety of journalists (...) This foundation fosters the exercise of a truly free press, reinforces the protection of journalists, and lays the necessary foundation for the development of reliable and stable media...", he emphasized.

Seizing this opportunity, the President "deplored and condemned all the cases of attacks on the exercise of press freedom perpetrated on national territory in recent years, particularly in the eastern part of the country, due to the barbarity of the enemies of peace".

"I hope that the situation of press freedom in the DRC will improve as a result of what is being done," says Grégoire Lunungu, one of the country's human rights activists.