afrol News, 25 November - The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for thorough and transparent investigations into alleged assassination of radio reporter killed by unknown assailants last Friday.

Radio Okapi journalist, Didace Namujimbo who is the second journalist to have been murdered from the same station, was killed by a single shot to the neck near his home in Bukavu, the capital of the eastern province of Sud-Kivu.

"We condemn the heinous murder of another colleague at Radio Okapi, and send our condolences to his family and colleagues," said Tom Rhodes, CPJ's Africa programme coordinator.

He said impunity for violence against media has become a norm in Democratic Republic of Congo, urging Congolese authorities in Bukavu to pursue all possible leads and conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into this killing.

Mr Namujimbo is the sixth Congolese journalist murdered since 2005, according local journalist association.

A local journalist association, Journaliste en danger (JED) expressed anger and outrage on the killing of a fellow newsman. JED said in previous murder trials for journalists, number of questions were unanswered surrounding identities of murderers and their motives, further saying preliminary investigations were deliberately messed up by authorities.

Meanwhile the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has expressed his deep distress at hearing of the murder of a journalist working for a the UN-sponsored radio station in DRC.

"This crime is all the more devastating as it marks the second time in less than two years that a member of Radio Okapi's staff has been brutally killed in the same city," Mr Ban said in a statement.

No arrests have yet been made, but local media has reported Bukavu public prosecutor Jacques Melimeli saying that a forensic investigation was under way to bring to justice the perpetrators.

The CPJ said three other journalists, Patrick Kikuku Wilungula, Franck Ngyke Kangundu, and Bapuwa Mwamba have been murdered in unclear circumstances, while in two other reported cases no arrests have also been made.

DRC has been plagued by violence in east part of the country, despite the official end of its brutal civil war in 2006. The fighting is reported to have displaced a quarter of a million civilians.

Congolese armed forces, or FARDC, have been fighting a rebel militia known as the Congress in Defence of the People (CNDP), led by the renegade general Laurent Nkunda.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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