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Viewing cable 06KINSHASA1933, 2006 REPORT SHOWS MORE OBSTACLES TO PRESS FREEEDOM IN DR

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06KINSHASA1933 2006-12-28 14:31 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Kinshasa
VZCZCXRO5633
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #1933/01 3621431
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281431Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5357
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001933 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM CG KDEM KPAO
SUBJECT: 2006 REPORT SHOWS MORE OBSTACLES TO PRESS FREEEDOM IN DR 
CONGO 
 
Ref: A) 05 Kinshasa 2024, B) Kinshasa 1105, 
 
C) Kinshasa 270, D) Kinshasa 441, E) Kinshasa 1786 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified.  Not for Internet distribution. 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary: The raw statistics of JED's annual report for the 
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) show a quantitative increase in 
violations of press freedom in 2006.  Bitterly fought elections, the 
DRC's first in two generations, and corrupt practices by underpaid 
journalists could well account for an apparent increase in press 
intimidation.  Unfortunately, Reporters Without Borders directly 
reflects JED's raw data in a report which ranks the DRC very low in 
press freedom.  In fact, the opposite could be argued; namely, that 
run-ins with Congolese authorities and other political forces are 
proof of media dynamism, even freedom, in the DRC. End Summary 
 
2. (U) As it has done for nine years, the press-freedom watchdog 
Journaliste en Danger (JED) on December 11 issued its annual report 
on press freedom in the DRC.  According to JED president Donat Mbaya 
Tshimanga, a simultaneous presentation was made in Bujumbura of 
 
SIPDIS 
JED's report for all of Central Africa.  As in past years, the 
Embassy, through a PD grant, helped fund the cost of printing the 
report. 
 
Still Worse in the DRC, Says JED 
-------------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) In summary terms, JED counted 125 violations of press 
freedom in the DRC in 2006, versus 106 in 2005 and 66 in 2004 (ref 
A). Forty-three percent of the violations took place in Kinshasa, 
about the same percentage as in 2005.  (Note: The capital Kinshasa 
has 44 television stations, 28 FM radio stations, and over 20 
regularly-published newspapers.)  Other hot spots for journalists in 
2006, according to Mbaya Tshimanga, were Katanga and the Western and 
Eastern Kasais.  (Comment: We can attest anecdotally to the latter. 
PAO was with a VOA reporter in Mbuji Mayi, capital of Eastern Kasai, 
on July 23 when a stone thrown at them hit the journalist in the 
face.  This happened during a melee which ensued in the wake of 
President Kabila's cortege into the city that day. This incident did 
not make mention in the JED report.  End Comment) 
 
4. (U) Violations of press freedom included nine categories ranging 
from assassination, disappearance or incarceration of journalists, 
to aggression, threats and censorship.  Categories which saw 
substantial increases in violations were aggression (25 cases this 
year vs. 8 last year) and threats (28 vs. 11).  There was a marked 
decrease in the number of journalists detained for fewer than 24 
hours (16 this year vs. 41 last year). 
 
5. (U) JED also counted two journalists killed in 2006, versus one 
(Franck Ngyke Kangundu, whose wife was also killed) in 2005. 
Freelance writer Bapuwa Mwamba (ref B) was one victim.  His accused 
assassins, AWOL soldiers, are still awaiting military trial 
reportedly for lack of legal representation.  The second 
"journalist" was a technician found dead after saboteurs attacked 
Jean-Pierre Bemba's CCTV satellite relay station near Lubumbashi in 
March 2006. 
 
There Ought to Be a Law 
----------------------- 
 
6. (U) In his comments at the unveiling of the report, JED President 
Mbaya Tshimanga attributed most of the violations of press freedom 
to the highly-charged political environment of 2006, which saw 
presidential and legislative elections in July and October, the 
DRC's first democratically-contested elections in more than 40 
years.  Tshimanga said he could understand that most private media 
are controlled by politicians seeking coverage for themselves, since 
state media (RTNC) tended to favor the incumbent ruling (PPRD) party 
of Joseph Kabila. Tshimanga encouraged more debate on politicians' 
control of so much media. 
 
7. (U) The JED president noted that the High Media Authority (HAM), 
charged with sanctioning media excesses, did a respectable job at 
going after what he called "pyromaniac" journalism. Tshimanga 
criticized the HAM, however, for making judgments about truth in 
reporting, which he said should be a matter for courts or the 
profession itself to decide.  Unfortunately, he noted, the 
journalistic profession did not regulate itself sufficiently. 
 
8. (U) Addressing the ubiquitous corrupt practice of selling stories 
or editorial bias (known as "coupage"), Tshimanga said 80 percent of 
practicing journalists do not have contracts and must often depend 
on such underhanded practices to survive.  Most journalists are not 
members of any press union, he added, and there has never been an 
 
KINSHASA 00001933  002 OF 002 
 
 
organized strike in the profession. 
 
9. (U) Tshimanga made two recommendations for new legislation. The 
first, he said, should be a law to decriminalize defamation. 
Accusations of slander get reporters detained, or worse, more often 
than any other offense.  They also insidiously foster 
self-censorship. Secondly, Tshimanga said there should be a law on 
public information - something akin to our FOIA - mandating more 
transparency and ultimately providing journalists with more access. 
 
Recognition for JED 
------------------- 
 
10. (U) A jury of 30 journalists assembled by Reporters Without 
Borders (RSF) awarded JED a prize for defending freedom of the 
press, which is reportedly only the second time an African 
organization has been so honored.  According to Leonard Vincent, the 
head of the Africa branch of RSF, JED demonstrated courage and 
clarity where media outlets are many, partisan and largely 
undisciplined, and in a country rife with corruption and impunity. 
RSF also praises JED for keeping the November 2005 murders of 
journalist Franck Ngyke Kangundu and his wife in the spotlight (ref 
C and D). 
 
Comment: Better to Dare Than Not 
-------------------------------- 
 
11. (SBU) While JED is indeed to be congratulated for its tenacity 
and dedication to blowing the whistle on press intimidation, the 
organization can go off on tangents, as when it publicly contended 
that then Interior Minister Theophile Mbemba was behind the Kangundu 
murders, a thesis JED has since dropped. 
 
12. (SBU) JED also can get carried away with its raw statistics, 
such as those which purport to show a steadily worsening environment 
for press freedom in the DRC, a refrain then picked up by RSF, which 
placed the DRC in 142nd place in press freedom in the world (ref E). 
 This is misleading.  It is precisely the vibrancy of the DRC's very 
dense media environment - and, admittedly, its drive to go to press 
in a very competitive environment, hobbled by lack of adequate 
access to information - which causes the media to rankle and 
sometimes provoke repressive reactions.  Better that, however 
unfortunate, than muzzled, state-controlled media. 
DOUGHERTY