Journalist detained after criticising RCD-Goma rebel movement

Joseph Nkinzo, the director of the Sauti ya Rehema ("voice of mercy") Anglican community radio station based in the city of Bukavu, South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was arrested on Wednesday. He had earlier broadcast commentary on the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) rebel movement's decision to withdraw from negotiations aimed at establishing national transitional institutions, the DRC media liberty NGO, Journaliste en danger (JED), reported on Thursday. "The journalist was detained because he deviated from the scheduled programming of his station, which is thematic and therefore does not have the right to broadcast information of a general nature," Jean-Pierre Lola Kisanga, the RCD-Goma spokesman, told IRIN on Friday. RCD-Goma withdrew from discussions of the follow-up committee of the inter-Congolese dialogue, the negotiation process that concluded with a power-sharing accord being reached in April, after accusing the government of trying to keep the post of head of army for itself, and of wanting to control the majority of military regions. "If Joseph Nkinzo does not change his ways, he will suffer the same fate as Radio Maendeleo," said Lola Kisanga. Radio Maendeleo, one of the few independent radio stations in eastern DRC, was closed by the RCD on 9 December 2002, when security agents of the rebel movement shut down the station for an indefinite period and temporarily arrested several of its staff. The official RCD-Goma statement explained the suspension on the basis that Radio Maendeleo is not supposed to broadcast stories with political content. The station remains closed despite RCD-Goma's signing of the transitional national constitution, which calls for freedom of the media. JED reported that the Sauti ya Rehema radio station had for more than one month been subjected to harassment by RCD-Goma authorities because of its independence with regard to the broadcasting of information. In addition to announcing its return to negotiations on Friday, the RCD-Goma also reported that Nkinzo had been set free.