AFRICA/DR CONGO - Radio Maria/Goma coordinator murdered

Monday, 30 September 2024 journalism violence armed groups

CONGO, THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE

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Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - The coordinator of Radio Maria/Goma, Edmond Bahati Monja, has been murdered. The murder occurred on the evening of September 27. The Catholic radio journalist was shot dead by armed men near his home in the Ndosho district on the outskirts of Goma. The city is the capital of North Kivu, the eastern province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is shaken by the advance of the M23 armed movement.
Goma is almost completely surrounded by the militiamen of the M23 movement. To strengthen the defense of the city, the regular Congolese army has formed alliances with other armed groups and has armed some militias that call themselves Wazalendo ("Patriots" in Swahili). However, the presence of irregular armed groups has led to an overall increase in violent crime in Goma, with robberies and murders commonplace.
The murder of Edmond Bahati, a journalist who, among other things, also investigated the situation on the ground in this context, falls into a different category: journalists are murdered for doing their job. At least a dozen journalists have been murdered in and around Goma within two years. Bahati had in particular investigated the violence of the armed groups in the region.
According to at least one eyewitness, Bahati was killed by three armed men (perhaps in military uniform, perhaps in civilian clothes, other witnesses disagree on this point) who had robbed her shortly before the journalist was murdered. Bahati was reportedly shot after the three assassins followed him for a short distance. The coordinator of Radio Maria/Goma was hit by at least two shots in the chest at close range. He leaves behind his wife and three children. "Edmond was a man of peace who put himself at the service of the community and the Church. His death is a great loss," said a Radio Maria employee.
Journalists in Goma are constantly subjected to threats received by phone or text message. Community radio stations such as Radio Maria/Goma are an important information tool in crisis and war zones such as North Kivu. This is why they are inconvenient for the various warring parties because they denounce violence against the civilian population. The violence in the city, residents complain, continues despite the state of siege declared by the authorities on May 6, 2021 in North Kivu and the neighboring province of Ituri (see Fides, 7/5/2021).
The use of irregular armed groups by the army to stop the advance of the M23 militias has further exacerbated insecurity in the capital of North Kivu.
Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Metropolitan Archbishop of Kinshasa, stressed in an interview with Fides (see Fides, 18/4/2024): "These armed groups will eventually become a danger to the population by looting citizens, committing robberies and murders, and engaging in the illegal trade of minerals extracted from the artisanal mines in the region". (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 30/9/2024)