Written by Gael Masengi
On Saturday December 31st 2011 around 17h (GMT) the 76 years old Congolese senator Leon Kengo wa Dondo was attacked by a group of unknown “fighters” at Gare du Nord train station in Paris, the spokesperson of the government Lambert Mende, jumped in to blame the main rival of the fraudulently elected president Joseph Kabila for the attack.
“The president of senate was attacked in gare du Nord by a band of self-claimed ‘combattants’ supporters of Etienne Tshisekedi” he told the AFP. The attack precede the announce by Lambert Mende of the suspension again of RFI (Radio France Internationale).
RFI Signal cut
“A decision was taken [to cut off the signal] until Tuesday because the government didn’t appreciate the way RFI try to sabotage or constitution law” the signal cut follow the broadcasting of Tshisekedi’s State of the Nation Address by the station, Mr Mende accuse RFI of ‘creating deliberately a confusion.’
“I’m not in position to decide; onlythe media regulator CSAC (ConseilSupérieure de l’audiovisuelet de la communication) can do so. He added
RFI signal was severally cut off before the swearing-in ceremony of EtienneTshisekedi, on December 23 at Stadium of Martyr’s in Kinshasa, accusing the station of “promoting the event”
What struck me more is not the missing teeth of Mr Senator but the media coverage of the incident, while I was trying to figure it out, one website already did!In an article published by www.afriqueredaction.com, the editor in chief of the news website, Roger Bongo asks the same question as well
“It’s now all over the [international] press! News of the attack of our “beloved” president of senate brings back the media’s attention...will it ask for more violent attacks for our cause to get enough coverage by the ‘difficult’ international media? He asks.
It seems to him and many others that, this is the only way to get their message across the world and draw attention of the international community on what’s really going-on in the country. He goes on to denounce the coverage on media of the death of twenty height peaceful UDPS supporters shot and killed by Kabila’s personal army on November 26 under the watchful eyes of journalists from around the world.
“It’s has been 3 years, Congolese people protest in the streets of Paris, London, Brussels and other cities around the world but no media ever seemed interested in their struggle. Two or three teeth go missing in the mouth of second personality of the DRC, there they are!” He adds.
French media such as Le Monde, le Point, Yahoo info, AFP, France 24, i télé, TF1, France 2, BFM TV and many moreat least run the story once or twice. As the government try to blame it on opposition members, an activist on his Facebook page asks some important questions on Mr Kengo’s attackers.
“The beating of DRC head of senate, and Congolese presidential candidate KengoWaDondoraises more questions than it answers- is it possible that Kengobeating could have been carried out by agent provocateurs of the DRC government?”
· How did the so-called “combattants” know Kengo’s whereabouts?
· Why was the beating not filmed but Kengo in his car? The 45 second video released on Vimeo after the beating showed him bleeding in his car heading to the hospital not the beating itself
· How does the Congo’s minister of information, Lambert Mende get his information to say it was Tshisekedi’s s supporters? At the present time, no group claimed the responsibility of the act. So far all we know is that Mr Kengo was attacked by unidentified persons. The activist pointed out that “Remember this is the same guy [Mr Mende] who said to the media that, the government did not shut down the SMS text service. (Later he admitted, kind of a flip flopper right?)
· Why has the word press not asked Kengo for evidence that it was Tshisekedi‘s supporters who injured him?
He concluded with an interesting question as of “why has the YouTube ‘video of the attack’ got the Ingeta logo (Ingeta is a group of a diaporaCongolese movement) attached to it? Notice the [original] YouTube videotakes 45 seconds and got turned to a 2 minutes adding Ingeta logo and song about support to Tshisekedi.
It is possible that we are assisting in propaganda war between the illegitimate government of theDRC and the opposition members.
@gaelmasengi
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