Kinshasa, May 3rd, 2025 (CPA) – ‘Strong pressure’ on the M23 rebels was recommended on Saturday to put an end to serious press freedom violations in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a press release from an independent journalists’ association. ‘Journalist in Danger (JED) is calling for strong pressure to be brought to bear on the M23 rebels to put an end to the serious attacks on press freedom in the east of the DRC. As the international community celebrates the 32nd World Press Freedom Day on Saturday 03 May 2025, the security and humanitarian tragedy that has been affecting the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo for several years has not spared journalists and media caught in the grip of the various armed groups’, it reads. For the Congolese press, the capture of the town of Goma at the end of January 2025, followed by the fall of Bukavu a few weeks later, by the M23 rebels supported by the Rwandan army, has a heavy connotation. After this unfortunate event, there were threats, kidnappings, kidnappings, and disappearances, forced ideological enrolment of journalists, closures and looting of media facilities, and so on. At a time when diplomatic talks are being held to restore peace to this part of the country, JED is calling for urgent action to put an end to the human rights violations and serious attacks on press freedom that are taking place in the territories under the control of the AFC-M23 rebels.
For this independent journalists’ organization, “only a free media and press can effectively support the ongoing peace process, in a safe environment for journalists”. ‘The clashes between the DRC’s armed forces (FARDC) and these rebel militias have resulted in thousands of deaths, massive population movements and the silencing of several local media. The rebels‘advance into several localities under their control, where they are trying to subjugate the media to their ideology, has forced some fifty journalists to flee the occupied areas to seek refuge elsewhere’, the document explained. However, the source pointed out that the number of targeted attacks on journalists and restrictions on freedom of information recorded since the start of the year in the two provinces of North and South Kivu is the highest of any province in the DRC. ‘There have been 2 direct threats to the physical integrity of journalists; radio stations have been vandalized, closed down or censored to prevent journalists from witnessing all kinds of abuses and crimes committed under rebel rule. And to top it all off, journalists are forcibly enrolled in training camps where they learn how to handle weapons, under the guise of ideological training’, deplored JED.
JED protests against the forced recruitment of journalists
JED also condemns the forced recruitment of journalists into the ranks of the rebels, which marks the end of independent media and the death of professional journalism in these territories. It also condemns the imposition of a blackout on all news from government-controlled territories and the ban on all media relaying negative comments or statements about the rebel movement. These bans, said the source, were imposed at a meeting held in Bukavu (South Kivu) on 23 February 2025 by M23 communications officials, in front of around sixty media managers and journalists from the province, who were given around ten directives. ‘All these attacks and threats to the physical integrity of journalists; the pressure to force the media to broadcast controlled information; and the ideological enlistment of journalists violate international law on freedom of the press and expression, and constitute crimes whose perpetrators must not go unpunished’, the document explained, before vigorously denouncing the general climate of insecurity in which Congolese journalists work in areas under rebel control and calling on the rebel forces to respect the work of journalists and their rights. ‘At a time when talks to end the war in the east between the DRC and Rwanda are being brokered by the United States, JED calls on all the protagonists to ensure that the issue of media freedom and the protection of journalists is included on the agenda of these negotiations, so that the media can play an active role in the peace process. ‘As talks to end the war in the east between the DRC and Rwanda get underway under the mediation of the United States, JED is calling on all the protagonists to ensure that the issue of media freedom and the protection of journalists is included on the agenda of these negotiations, so that the media can play a meaningful role in the peace processes underway in the region’, the source concluded.