Journalism organisations sign open letter calling for Congo media reforms

Members of a worldwide coalition of press freedom groups have joined calls for 'major reforms' to improve free expression in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A total of 29 members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) this week added their names to an open letter originally sent by Reporters Without Borders and Journalist in Danger to President Joseph Kabila last month.

The additional organisations include the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Centre for Media Studies and Peace Building, the Exiled Journalists Network and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

The 31 organisations jointly call on Kabila to improve and reform the working environment for journalists, particularly as the country draws closer to a presidential election next year.

In the letter the parties outlined two main requests: for a moratorium to be declared in the run-up to elections on the imprisonment of journalists for defamation or insulting the authorities, and for the creation of a Higher Council for Broadcasting and Communication (CSAC) to challenge abuses of the media.

"In the last few months, there have been several cases of arrests and threats against media personnel," the letter reads. "The foreign media are finding it difficult to conduct their work properly. Nothing has been done to improve the situation in the country and in fact, we have noticed an increase in deliberate attacks on journalists and media in the past two months, attacks that could foreshadow even greater repression in the run-up to next year's elections if preventive measures are not adopted."

Reporters Without Borders and Journalist in Danger say they have also repeated their concerns in a letter to the communication minister and government spokesman Lambert Mendé Omalanga, who reportedly insisted that press freedom was improving, in a public broadcast.

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