The government has requisitioned one of Kinshasa’s main private television channels, Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) said on Tuesday. In a statement received by IRIN, RSF said the state’s Office des biens mal acquis (OBMA) had on Saturday requisitioned the station, Radiotelevision Kin Malebo (RTKM), based on a ministerial decree dated 7 March. The transmitters were also seized, it said. RTKM is owned by Ngongo Luwowo, an exiled ex-minister of information under former president Mobutu Sese Seko. “This kind of measure is not in the direction of greater press freedom,” RSF secretary-general Robert Menard said in the statement. AFP on Tuesday reported that no reason had been given for the measure, but that police had moved into the station’s building.
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