Goma, DR Congo: A journalist for state media in the Democratic Republic of Congo was shot dead on Friday in Goma in the country’s restive east, officials said.
Robert Chamwami Shalubuto’s body was found in a grocery store close to his home after having been shot in the chest, said Celestin Sibomana, spokesman for North Kivu province, of which Goma is the capital.
The deputy governor of the province, Feller Lutaichirwa, confirmed the killing of the journalist for Congolese National Radio and Television (RTNC), and labelled it an “assassination”.
“Investigations have been initiated,” he said.
Another journalist from RTNC, Philemon Gira, was shot in October. He survived the attack, but his left leg had to be amputated.
“For some time, journalists have become people to kill in the city,” said Sibomana. “We believe that a front has been opened against journalists.”
Around ten journalists have been murdered in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past 16 years, with most having worked in North and South Kivu provinces, according to local non-governmental organisation Journalist In Danger.
Both local and foreign armed groups have terrorised residents in the two provinces for some two decades.
