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Alert

Two "La Référence Plus" journalists arrested in Kinshasa

(JED/IFEX) - Publisher André Ipakala Abeiye Mobiko and reporter Valère Bisweko, from the Kinshasa-based daily "La Référence Plus", were detained on Friday 1 June 2001 at around 2 p.m. (local time) at the newspaper's head office in Kinshasa/Kasa-Vabu by agents from the Congolese national police's Kinshasa Provincial Inspectorate (Inspection provinciale de Kinshasa, IPK). They were taken to IPK's premises and held there.




According to information obtained from "La Référence Plus"'s editorial staff, the newspaper is charged with publishing an article entitled "Killer-cutthroats terrorise Kinshasa" on Thursday 31 May (issue 2176). This article was illustrated by two archival photos showing two decomposing adolescent bodies. In the article, the newspaper reported on the increasing number of murders in Kinshasa's outlying neighbourhoods. It also noted, among other incidents, journalist Bisweko's abduction on Tuesday 30 May in Kinshasa/Ngaba by unknown persons who drove him toward the town of Lemba and stole all valuables in his possession.

A member of the daily's editorial staff, who had accompanied the two arrested journalists, told JED that he was told that Ipakala and Bisweko "will be kept at the IPK until the president of the republic decides otherwise."