Displaced reporters censored again in areas held by M23 rebels in … – Reporters sans frontires

Radio stations that broadcast Sauti Ya Wahami or help to produce it have on several occasions received visits from M23 rebels, who have threatened and intimidated their staff. The M23 summoned radio station directors in February and ordered them to stop broadcasting the programme on the grounds that it incites hatred. Fearing reprisals, the radio stations complied.

Many radio stations gradually resumed broadcasting the programme from April onwards. But the directors of these radio stations finally received this message from M23: You are invited to the meeting on 10 August to evaluate this programme (...) In the meantime the programme continues to be suspended. You are reminded that Top Congo also continues to be suspended. The evaluation is only for the programme Sauti Ya Wahami.

Top Congo FM, which broadcasts from the DRCs capital, Kinshasa, is one of the regions most popular stations. Radio stations in M23-held areas have been forbidden to retransmit its programmes or cooperate with its producers since February.

Ever since fighting between M23 and the FARDC resumed in 2021, the media in Nord-Kivu have been constantly harassed by both sides. On the one hand, M23 threatens them and orders them to stop broadcasting certain news programmes. On the other, they feel abandoned by the government, which threatens journalists with reprisals if they yield to M23s threats.

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Displaced reporters censored again in areas held by M23 rebels in ... - Reporters sans frontires

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