DRC: Rural radio station banned in Rutshuru, North Kivu Province

DRC: Rural radio station banned in Rutshuru, North Kivu Province

KINSHASA, 25 September (IRIN) - A private rural radio station in North Kivu Province of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been banned from broadcasting since 16 September by a local government administrator, Congolese media rights NGO Journaliste en danger (JED) reported on Wednesday.

JED said that Radio Communautaire Ushirika (Racou) in Kiwanja, Rutshuru territory of North Kivu, had failed to obtain authorisation from the provincial governor, Eugene Serufuli, before beginning broadcasts. JED said a senior government official, Baryanga Rupuye, closed the radio. Rupuye said he was acting on the orders of Rutshuru administrator, Oscar Ndambiye.

Rutshuru is a zone administered by the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), a former rebel group that is now party to a two-year power-sharing transitional government installed in June in the DRC.

JED said Racou's director, Jean-Baptiste Kambale Kiyana, told them he had repeatedly tried but failed to obtain the required official authorisation, citing various administrative barriers.

The provincial governor's office instead suggested that his station merge with another Kiwanja-based community radio station project operated by "Tout pour le developpement et la Paix" ("Every Effort for Development and Peace"), an NGO which JED said had close ties to RCD-Goma and Serufuli.

"It would be inappropriate for Racou, which was launched by farmers, to merge with a political project that does not hide its tribal links," Kambale was quoted as saying.

According to JED, efforts by the station to obtain authorisation to resume broadcasting have been unsuccessful. Speaking from Goma, the main city of North Kivu Province, Serufuli denied JED's allegations.

"It is false, because this radio station did not even exist. I know of no radio station with this name [Racou], broadcasting from Rutshuru, where only one radio station is operating," he said.

[ENDS]

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