10 January 1998

Alert

Paper's offices occupied; three printing house staffers arrested; journalist Mossi Mwasi remains in detention


Incident details

Mossi Mwasi

journalist(s)

detained


(RSF/IFEX) - In an 8 July 1998 letter, RSF protested the occupation of the
offices and printing house of the newspaper "Le Moniteur de l'Economie", and
the arrest of three of the printing house's staff. According to RSF's
information, since the beginning of December 1997, the editorial offices and
printing house of the privately-owned monthly are under military occupation,
without any official reason being given. The paper has been unable to
publish since. On 29 December, three staffers of the paper's printing house
were arrested without charge. Their place of detention is unknown.





**New case, plus update to IFEX alert of 17 December 1997 (Mwasi arrest)**


This is the second newspaper to have been arbitrarily occupied by military
officers in December; the offices of the magazine "Elima" were ransacked on
22 December (see IFEX alert of 29 December).


(update)

In a separate case, Mossi Mwassi, a correspondent in the Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC) for the Swahili-language radio services of the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Deutsche Welle, remains in detention
without charge in a national information agency detention cell. He was
detained on 3 December 1997 (see IFEX alert).


Recommended Action


Send appeals to President Kabila:

  • reminding him that Zaire (now DRC) ratified the International Covenant
    on Civil and Political Rights, Article 19 of which guarantees the right to
    inform and to be informed
  • asking him to respect the DRC's international commitments, and ensure
    they are respected by others
  • urging that the rights of journalists to proper working conditions be
    safeguarded
  • urging that he do everything in his power to obtain the release of Mossi
    Mwassi and of the three printing house staffers




    Appeals To



    Monsieur Laurent-Desire Kabila
    President of the Democratic Republic of Congo

    care of the DRC diplomatic representative in your country

    (in France)
    Embassy of the DRC
    Fax: +33 1 42 89 80 09

    (in Canada)
    Embassy of the DRC 
    18 Range Road 
    Ottawa, Ontario
    K1N 8J3 Canada
    Fax: +1 613 747 9152







    Please copy appeals to the source if possible.





    • Source

    Reporters Without Borders
    47, rue Vivienne
    75002 Paris, France
    rsf (@) rsf.org


    Fax:+33 1 45 23 11 51

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