The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today denounced the ransacking of the Butembo provincial broadcasting station of Congo National Radio and Television (RTNC) by 40 armed men on April 16, 2006.
The perpetrators fired on the transmitters and other equipment destroying the station’s capacity to broadcast.
"This is an outrageous attack against the media in the Democratic Republic of Congo" said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the Africa Office of the IFJ.
“We demand that the authorities do all they can to arrest and punish those responsible.”
Butembo is a town of about five hundred thousand (500,000) inhabitants located in the East of the DRC in a region that has suffered 10 years of conflict.
"These acts of vandalism and intimidation continue because of the impunity that has characterised the attacks and killings of journalists in the DRC, most notably the assassination of Franck Kangundu in November 2005, whose assassins are still at large” added Mr. Baglo.
The director of the Africa Office of the IFJ urges the government of the DRC to trace the perpetrators of these attacks and bring them to justice and to put an end to impunity in Congo in order to guarantee the safety of journalists especially during the forthcoming elections.
For further information contact the IFJ : +221 842 01 42
The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countries
