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Alert

RFI returns to airwaves

(RSF/IFEX) - 9 January 2012 - Reporters Without borders is relieved to learn that the broadcast signal of the French public radio station Radio France Internationale, suspended on 31 December on the orders of the Congolese communications minister, Lambert Mende, was restored today.

The suspension of broadcasts by the station, which was criticised for its coverage of the events since the disputed presidential election last month, had aroused international protests, notably from France and the United States.

The news is tempered, however, by a 45-day closure order issued three days ago against the radio station Radio Communautaire du Katanga by Mukanya Ilunga, head of communications in Katanga province.

The station was criticised for re-broadcasting RFI programmes in defiance of government orders. Reporters Without Borders deplores this illegal action and calls on the appropriate authorities to restore RCK's broadcasts immediately.