Alarm over fresh media clampdown

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is holding the authorities responsible for the safety of two journalists who had to flee their homes in the DRC, after making a documentary about hundreds of villagers who were evicted from land that is reportedly owned by President Joseph Kabila. Director Gaël Mpoyo and editor Franck Zongwe Lukawa fled Bukavu on 7 July, a day after their 27-minute documentary, Mbobero: might is always right, was screened in the city. Commissioned by a local NGO, the documentary includes interviews with villagers who were chased from their homes and with lawyers critical of the evictions. RSF notes that at least three other participants in the documentary have left their homes as a safety precaution. ‘We hold the Congolese authorities responsible for the fate of these journalists and their sources,’ said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk.