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Ten journalists murdered in DRC in past 10 years
KINSHASA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- A total of 10 journalists have been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 1990, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) was quoted as saying by DRC's National Association of Media Professionals (SNPP).
These revelations were made Monday on the sidelines of celebrations marking the international press day which was held on July 23, 2007.
In chronological order, the killed journalists are Makoko Musheni of DRC's national radio and television (RTNC), who died in 1993 following the assassination of his son Willy Makoko, who was an advisor in information ministry. In the same year, Pierre Kabeya of the weekly "Kin-Matin" was kidnapped and later tortured to death while Adolphe Kavula Massamba, a journalist with the " Nsemo" newspaper and also an activist of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), was kidnapped and later killed under mysterious circumstances.
Likewise, in 1998, Belmonde Magloire, a Beninese photographer with DRC's daily newspaper Salongo and founder of DRC's "Le Point" newspaper disappeared after serving a shoirt prison sentence. In the same manner, Fabien Fortune Bitumbo of DRC's Liberty Radio was kidnapped and later killed by militia forces.
In 2000, Crispin Kandolo of the UNESCO press was killed in an ambush and his body burnt. Similarly, Akite Kisembo, an AFP correspondent was kidnapped and later executed by rebel forces in 2003.
In November 2005, Franck Kangundu Ngyke, a former reporter with Congolese News Agency (ACP) and a journalist for the "La Reference Plus " daily was killed together with his wife, Helene Mpaka, in front of their home in Kinshasa. This was followed by the murder of Bapuwa mwamba, who died in 2006 from injuries inflicted by armed attackers in his house.
The most recent assassination was that of Serge Maheshe of the United Nations sponsored Okapi Radio, who was killed on June 13, 2007 at his Bukavu residence.
According to the SNPP, all these murders have never been investigated fully and the perpetrators of the crimes remain at large.
<em>Source: Xinhua</em>
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