Reporter for UN radio shot dead in eastern DR Congo

Kinshasa: A journalist working for a United Nations-backed radio station in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was shot dead on Friday night, the radio station and a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force said.

He was the second Radio Okapi reporter to be killed in the South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu in the past 18 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 UN 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. Radio Okapi, named after a rare zebra-like animal found in Congo's vast forests, was set up with UN help to promote access to information as part of efforts to end a regional war that engulfed the huge country from 1998-2003.

A peace deal to end the fighting led to elections and the withdrawal of six foreign armies dragged into the war.

But fighting between the chaotic national army and rival militias, including fighters from neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda, has continued in eastern parts of Congo.