Congolese M23 rebels are seen as they withdraw from the 3 antennes location in Kibumba, near Goma, North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo on December 23, 2022.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government is warning journalists and media outlets of tough penalties, including death sentence, for reporting on the M23.
The threat by Justice minister comes as a sign of widening crackdown against the rebel group Kinshasa considers a terrorist outfit and is meant to control war propaganda as well as victory stories from the public.
Mr Constant Mutamba said the new policy will go beyond rebels, whose leaders were last year sentenced to hang but have continued to launch attacks in eastern DRC.
“Any political player, civil society member, journalist or religious figure who reports on the activities of the Rwandan army and its M23 auxiliaries will henceforth be subject to the rigours of the law (death penalty),” Mr Mutamba warned.
The minister, who describes himself as the “new (Patrice) Lumumba” stressed that "our territorial integrity cannot be bargained with.”
This threat has sent shockwaves in media, with journalists potentially exposed to the same penalty as terrorists and criminals if they dare publish rebel activities of the rebel movement.
Government Spokesman Patrick Muyaya, a former journalist, said the new policy will ensure professional standards.
“This is a challenge that concerns not only media professionals but also the military and many other people who can be used as channels to pass on the enemy's messages. We have an obligation to protect our opinion from anything that could destroy it, especially in the face of this war that is plunging us into mourning and displacing millions of people,” the Communication minister said.
In DR Congo, since the death penalty was reactivated in the first quarter of 2024, there has been a wave of judicial sentences, notably against leaders of the M23, who were sentenced to death in October many of them in absentia.
Some of those condemned to death are still being held in a military prison in Kinshasa.
In the past one month, dozens of bandits in Kinshasa have also been sentenced to death for terrorising city residents.
It is against this backdrop of rising insecurity and war in North Kivu that Muyaya’s ministry has withdrawn Al Jazeera's accreditation.
According to the Congolese authorities, Al Jazeera has “apologised for terrorism.”
The Qatari media TV channel recently interviewed Bertrand Bisimwa, chairperson of the M23, which is believed to have triggered the move by the Communications ministry.
"Operational issues cannot be dealt with in the media. These are issues that involve human lives... There are a minimum number of precautions we have to take before expressing ourselves. If you don't take the context into account, you're going to expose yourself," Mr Muyaya said.
"We have decided to withdraw the accreditations granted to Al Jazeera journalists, because, how can you understand that a media outlet such as this one, which has journalists regularly accredited in the DRC, can use a notoriously pro-Rwandan activist, who is not on the list of accredited journalists, to interview the leader of a terrorist movement, without having either accreditation or a visa? Isn't that contempt by these journalists?" Muyaya said, adding that Kinshasa suspected the channel of acting as "a gateway to manipulation and intrusion."
"Giving a voice to terrorists is tantamount to apology for terrorism, which is totally unacceptable," he declared.
"For the protection of our opinion, there is no longer room for ambiguity. We are in a crisis and everyone should understand this," Muyaya said.
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