PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
CPJ: Journalist murdered in eastern DR Congo
Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Media watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday asked the authorities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo town of Kirumba to thoroughly investigate the murder of radio journalist, Witness-Patchelly Kambale Musonia.
The reporter’s bullet-ridden body was discovered in Congo’s North Kivu province, according to a statement by CPJ received in Accra on Thursday.
It said unidentified gunmen shot dead Musonia, 32, host of a daily talk show programme on community station Radio Communautaire de Lubero Sud, as he walked home around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, according to local press freedom group Journaliste En Danger.
Witnesses who heard gunshots reported that the gunmen appeared to have been waiting for Musonia as he walked home from his office at Congo Chine Télécoms, where he also worked as a local communications officer, station director Jean Maliro told CPJ.
"The motive of the murder was not immediately clear and Masonia had not reported any threats," according to Maliro.
No arrests have been made, according to local journalists, and CPJ is investigating whether Musonia’s murder was related to his journalism.
“We condemn the murder of Witness-Patchelly Kambale Musonia,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita.
“Authorities in Kirumba must conduct thorough, transparent and credible investigations that will address all the unanswered questions about the motive of this dastardly act.”
Musonia, a father of a 7-month-old infant, had been working at RCLS since 2008, according to Maliro.
In his last show, titled “Wake Up Kirumba,” Musonia had discussed with his guest, a local civil society leader, the recent arrest of a dozen people accused of trafficking military weapons for criminal activity, according to Maliro.
Musonia is the second member of the press gunned down this year after radio technician Hardy Kazadi Ilunga was killed in March.
CPJ said Local authorities in the restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo had consistently failed to investigate and prosecute journalists’ murders.
-0- PANA MA 23June2011
The reporter’s bullet-ridden body was discovered in Congo’s North Kivu province, according to a statement by CPJ received in Accra on Thursday.
It said unidentified gunmen shot dead Musonia, 32, host of a daily talk show programme on community station Radio Communautaire de Lubero Sud, as he walked home around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, according to local press freedom group Journaliste En Danger.
Witnesses who heard gunshots reported that the gunmen appeared to have been waiting for Musonia as he walked home from his office at Congo Chine Télécoms, where he also worked as a local communications officer, station director Jean Maliro told CPJ.
"The motive of the murder was not immediately clear and Masonia had not reported any threats," according to Maliro.
No arrests have been made, according to local journalists, and CPJ is investigating whether Musonia’s murder was related to his journalism.
“We condemn the murder of Witness-Patchelly Kambale Musonia,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita.
“Authorities in Kirumba must conduct thorough, transparent and credible investigations that will address all the unanswered questions about the motive of this dastardly act.”
Musonia, a father of a 7-month-old infant, had been working at RCLS since 2008, according to Maliro.
In his last show, titled “Wake Up Kirumba,” Musonia had discussed with his guest, a local civil society leader, the recent arrest of a dozen people accused of trafficking military weapons for criminal activity, according to Maliro.
Musonia is the second member of the press gunned down this year after radio technician Hardy Kazadi Ilunga was killed in March.
CPJ said Local authorities in the restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo had consistently failed to investigate and prosecute journalists’ murders.
-0- PANA MA 23June2011
