Didace Namujimbo shot dead in South Kivu
Didace Namujimbo, a radio journalist with the UN-backed Radio Okapi station, was shot dead on Friday night. He is the second journalist from the station to have been shot dead in the South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu in the last eighteen months,
“Once again a Radio Okapi journalist has been killed in Bukavu. Didace Namujimbo was killed by a shot to the head by unknown assailants on Friday night near his home,” Radio Okapi said on its website on Saturday.
Kevin Kennedy, a U.N. spokesman in the capital Kinshasa, said he had no indication who may have killed Namujimbo.
“We don’t know what the circumstances were. He was returning to his house last night and we understand he was shot dead,” Kennedy said. link
UPDATE: Hundreds of people attended the funeral of journalist Didace Namujimbo on Monday in Bukavu,
UN-sponsored Radio Okapi is also backed by Fondation Hirondelle, a Swiss organisation. Its director, Jean-Marie Etter told RFI that while the situation in Bukavu has become “too dangerousâ€, he is not going to pull funding.
“On the contrary, I think that quite obviously what Okapi is doing in the DRC is extremely needed, is extremely important,” said Etter. “The people who listen to Okapi, the first radio in the country, say quite clearly that for them this radio means hope, and this radio is a symbol of something that is working properly.” link
