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| Title | Belgian reporter and assistants safe after being released by Mai-Mai militiamen |
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Country | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Publication Date | 7 November 2008 |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, Belgian reporter and assistants safe after being released by Mai-Mai militiamen, 7 November 2008, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49193c0f1.html [accessed 4 June 2012] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Belgian reporter and assistants safe after being released by Mai-Mai militiamen
Reporters Without Borders is relieved to learn that Belgian journalist Thomas Scheen was freed this morning and that, together with his Congolese interpreter and driver, is now being protected by the UN Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). His release was announced by his newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Scheen, a German-speaker who is his newspaper's Africa correspondent, had been held in Virunga National Park, in the eastern province of Nord-Kivu, after being kidnapped by a small group of pro-government Mai-Mai militiamen on 4 November.
Reporters Without Borders has also learned that, contrary to reports, journalist Alfred Bitwahiki Nzonzo of Ushirika Community Radio (RACOU), a station based in the Nord-Kivu town of Kiwanja, was not killed when the town was taken by members of rebel general Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP).
Several fellow journalists have managed to talk to him by telephone. He is safe and a long way from where the fighting is taking place.
Topics: Freedom of speech, Freedom of information, Freedom of expression,
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