Missing journalist found dead

An Angolan state radio correspondent reported missing in Zambia at the weekend during a UNHCR field trip to an Angolan refugee camp has been found dead. A UNHCR spokesman told IRIN on Tuesday the journalist’s body had been found floating in the Zambezi River. “It is with deep shock that UNHCR has learned of the death of Antonio Paciencia,” UNHCR spokesman Fidelis Swai said. “The Zambian authorities in the town of Senenga have informed us that they found his body in the river and that they are still investigating the cause of his death.” Paciencia joined a team of regional journalists in Lusaka, Zambia last week to attend a three-day UNHCR seminar. Swai said he had gone missing while the team of journalists visited the Nangweshi refugee centre near the town of Senanga in Zambia’s Western Province near the Angolan border. He said he had failed to join the scheduled return flight to the Zambian capital, Lusaka. Swai, one of the last people to see the journalist alive, said Pacienca had run away from the group and failed to return. His disappearance sparked a police manhunt which ended on Monday evening when his body was found. According to other journalists at the workshop, Paciencia had refused to sleep in his hotel room at night claiming he was being spied on.