briefing in Kampala, Wednesday, November 21, 2012)
***
Sources in Goma report that there have been at least 50 known
disappearances of Goma residents ever since M23 seized control of the
provincial capital of North Kivu.
The "disappeared" are members of pro-Kabila political parties and civil society.
"One day you see your neighbor, the next day the person mysteriously
vanishes!" a Goma source told me today.
There's no way of determining whether blogger-journalist Charly
Kasereka is among those "disappeared" by M23--though his last known
whereabouts were at Kibumba, where he was reporting as an FARDC embed.
M23 are now turning into a news-averse outfit, cutting off radio and
TV signals willy-nilly in a stupid attempt at mind control of Goma
residents--which prompted Reporters Without Borders (RWB) and
Journalist in Danger (JED) to issue a joint statement on Wednesday,
November 21, to denounce this situation.
Said Christophe Deloire, Reporters Without Borders secretary general:
"Since occupying Goma, the rebels of the
23 March Movement (M23) have seized
control of the news media and are
behaving as if they were media
executives and editors. We remind
them that it is not their job to decide
the content of the news."
The joint statement goes on to say:
"The same sources said that, after the
rebel takeover, the M23 spokesman [Vianney Karazama] personally went
to Mount Goma – where the antennae of local radio and TV stations and
the relay antennae of the national and international broadcast media
are located – and told a representative of the National Network of
Satellite Telecommunications (RENATELSAT) to disconnect these three TV
stations."
So much for highway bandits who purport to teach Kabila lessons in
governance and democracy.
That's why Kinois--who still enjoy their freedom of movement and the
freedom to access the news--were rattled at seeing, on the same day
that reports of M23 treating Goma residents as chattels and slaves
were featured in the news, photos like the one above and TV footage of
Kabila grinning alongside Kagame and Museveni--the very culprits of
the misery of Goma residents and of more than a half million of
Congolese IDPs.
Hardcore anti-Kabila elements--those who believe that the Congolese
Prez is a Rwandan golem--didn't exactly put on kid gloves to describe
the scene as the grand reunion of the "balkanizers" of the DRC.
***
PHOTO CREDITS: Via: www.radiookapi.net
