DR Congo radio journalist shot dead

KINSHASA (AFP) - Gunmen shot dead a local community radio journalist in the volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a media watchdog said Wednesday, warning of rising violence ahead of elections.

Witness-Patchelly Kambale Musonia, 32, was shot three times in the chest at point blank range outside his home in Nord-Kivu province when he returned from work Tuesday, Journaliste en Danger (Journalist in Danger) said.

The killers "apparently waited for his return not far from his house," it said in a statement.

Musonia was a journalist for Community Radio of Lubero Sud in Kirumba in the troubled resource-rich east, where armed groups and soldiers are blamed for prevailing insecurity, including attacks and rape.

The watchdog said he had hosted a programme last Friday in which participants alleged the unrest was caused by a "band of armed bandits composed of civilians but operating with the complicity of the police."

Station manager Jean Maliro said it was not clear if the assassination was linked to the programme, called "Kirumba, rise up", or had something to do with Musonia's other work as a mobile phone vendor.

There were three attackers and they fled with the journalist's mobile phone and money he was carrying, Maliro told AFP, adding that as far as he knew Musonia had not received death threats.

He was the sixth journalist to be killed since 2007 in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Journaliste en Danger "urged the provincial authorities to immediately open a serious investigation to find and punish" those responsible for the killing.

It also asked the "Congolese authorities, ahead of the election day, to end the spiral of violence which targets journalists and their work".

The Democratic Republic of Congo holds presidential and legislative elections on November 28.

Two traders were killed earlier this year in Kirumba, which has around 120,000 residents and is more than 200 kilometres (124 miles) north of Goma, the main city in the province.

Civil societies groups regularly complain of theft and sexual violence committed by armed men in civil uniform, who are otherwise unidentified.

In March they asked authorities to withdraw Congolese soldiers stationed in the area, accusing them of being responsible for the insecurity, and to deploy new units.