Journalists in eastern DRC detained over war coverage, broadcasters occupied 

Journalists in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo face constant danger as warring parties seek to control information. 

In January and February, government forces and rebel groups both detained journalists over their reporting, including several for simply conducting interviews, while the rebel forces that control parts of the country’s eastern provinces held military positions in at least two broadcasters’ offices.

The DRC’s mineral-rich, eastern region has been unstable since the end of the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when ethnic conflict, combatants, and refugees spilled over into the DRC. It is one of the world’s worst, long-running humanitarian crises.

The escalation in fighting and the M23 rebel group’s rapid, unprecedented gains in the past three years marked a significant upheaval for local media, with journalists caught between actors that share a desire to prevent the press from freely publicizing their actions.

Ongoing arrests

On March 3, three people claiming to be agents with the DRC’s National Intelligence Agency (ANR) arrested Serge Sindani, a journalist and director of the private site Kis24.info, in the city of Kisangani, in the northern Tshopo province, according to media reports and a local journalist who witnessed Sindani’s arrest and spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, for security reasons. 

The journalists said Sindani was arrested at the headquarters of the Special Fund for the Distribution of Compensation to Victims of Uganda’s Illicit Activities in the DRC (FRIVAO), where he also works, and is being held at the local ANR office.

Sindani was accused of being a spy for the M23, which is part of the Congo River Alliance (AFC) rebel coalition. In early March, he published rebel statements claiming responsibility for a drone attack on Kisangani’s Bangoka International Airport. He also published a report saying U.S. sanctions against the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) and senior Rwandan military officials were welcome, but he still placed responsibility for securing the country’s border on the Congolese state.

A military officer previously had arrested Sindani in June 2025 for posting a photo of combat aircraft at the airport.

Steves Paluku Mbusa, the director of Kis24.info, told CPJ that local authorities had prevented Sindani’s lawyers, family, and colleagues from assisting him. 

“This situation raises serious concerns regarding his well-being, his conditions of detention, as well as the minimum guarantees linked to treatment in accordance with the law,” Mbusa said. 

CPJ’s call to Paulin Lendongolia, the governor of Tshopo province, for comment went unanswered.  

Detained for reporting

On February 26, a group of six soldiers with the DRC government’s armed forces (FARDC) arrested reporter Patient Chimusa Pardonne at the offices of the privately owned Référence Congo FM broadcaster in the eastern city of Uvira, in South Kivu province, then detained him at the local military intelligence office, according to two journalists who visited Chimusa in custody and asked not to be named for security reasons. 

The journalists told CPJ that during a hearing the same day, military authorities accused Chimusa of stealing vehicles from the National Refugee Commission (CNR), as well as collaboration with the M23/AFC rebels and espionage in Uvira. Chimusa was also accused of illegally broadcasting an interview with rebel spokesperson Willy Ngoma when Uvira was under rebel control in December. Ngoma was killed in late February.

Chimusa was provisionally released on March 2 after paying a bail of US$500, and was asked to report to the local military intelligence office for four days.

Colonel Jean Pierre Elias Direns, the local head of military intelligence, declined to comment on the case. 

On January 28, M23 rebels took Samson Nyandabaga Fabrice, director of the community radio station Flash FM, from a school where he teaches in Kamanyola, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Bukavu, in South Kivu province, and detained him for three days, the journalist told CPJ after his release.

Nyandabaga said that he had requested an interview with the local president of the Banyamulenge community and had submitted his questions in writing. The president forwarded the document to his Banyamulenge superiors for permission, and the M23 considered the questionnaire political espionage, he said. 

The Banyamulenge are a minority group in eastern DRC of Rwandan Tutsi descent, which has fueled discrimination against them. The M23/AFC, with support from Rwanda, have used this stigma to justify their military advances North and South Kivu. The rebels and their Rwandan military allies have controlled Kamanyola, which borders Rwanda and Burundi, since February 2025, according to the United Nation’s Radio Okapi. Rwanda has confirmed the presence of its soldiers in the DRC alongside the M23/AFC rebels.

Nyandabaga told CPJ that he was questioned by M23/AFC intelligence agents about his proposed interview, and that the rebels had accused him of wanting to conduct the interview for the benefit of international media. They released him unconditionally on January 31, after he paid a bail of 200,000 Congolese francs (US$90).

Conversely, DRC police arrested journalist Thomson Unji Batangalwa on January 2 in the town of Baraka, in South Kivu, over interviews he conducted with M23 members when they controlled Uvira. (The Congolese army regained control over the city in late January.) He was released on February 4 after paying US$300 bail. 

Broadcasters occupied

In mid-February, rebel soldiers invaded two local broadcasters, seizing equipment and setting up military positions at the stations — part of a regional pattern in which armed groups take over media facilities and on-air content. 

On February 12, around 10 rebel soldiers stormed the Walungu Community Radio and Television station in Mudusa village in South Kivu province’s Walungu territory, occupied the building, and looted its transmitter, microphones, computers, and mixers, four local journalists told CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals. The station had been off the air since February 2025, when rebels took control of the area.

“Almost all of the broadcasting equipment has been taken away by the rebels,” a journalist from the outlet told CPJ. “After the rebels occupied our facilities, we will struggle to resume our activities. We do not have the financial means to purchase new equipment.”

The journalist said that rebels continue to occupy the premises of the only other non-state broadcaster, Mulangane Community Radio Broadcasting Center, which they forced off the air in March 2025.

The only station still broadcasting to Walungu is RTNC, a public media outlet now controlled by the rebels, the journalist said.

With the rebels’ advance over the last year, they have ordered that at least three RTNC stations in eastern DRC only broadcast pro-M23 content, CPJ reported in January.

CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app to M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka received no response.