A journalist working with the Ruwenzori Voice Radio (RVR) who was abducted along with 20 other persons has remained missing even after the bodies of some of the abductees who were killed have been found.
Pius Manzikala, who was working with RVR in Mutwanga in the Rutshuru territory within the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was abducted along with 20 other persons on Saturday, December 11, by combatants of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group.
Manzikala, along with the 20 others who are inhabitants of Kasusukumu-Nzenga village situated about five kilometres from Mutwanga were abducted by heavily armed ADF fighters.
As of the time of filing this report, the whereabouts of the journalist and some of the abductees were still unknown.
However, the corpses of an unspecified number of some of the kidnapped persons have been found.
According to a communiqué issued on Monday by Ruwenzori Voice Radio, the corpse of their journalist was not among those found and taken to the Mutwanga mortuary.
The communiqué said before his abduction, Manzikala had never been threatened by an armed group in connection with his professional duties most probably because he animated mostly “innocent programmes” about health, literature and general culture.
A media professional outfit, Journaliste en Danger (JED) has expressed disquiet on the physical integrity of journalists in DR Congo and has joined its voice to other media professional bodies to demand that the local security forces do everything within their powers to ensure that Paul Manzikala is found safe and sound.
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