Congolese authorities have banned local media from covering former president Joseph Kabila and his party PPRD, categorising the two in the same pool as the M23 rebel group.

The decision on Saturday was announced by Christian Bosembe, chairperson of the supervising council for media and communications, known in French as Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel et de la communication (CSAC). The Council has sweeping powers to license media outlets and accredit journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Journalists covering activities or comments by Kabila or his Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et la Démocratie (PPRD), or relaying statements or interviews with the former president risk losing their licences.

"From today, journalists and media managers are forbidden to broadcast, comment on or report news linked to the PPRD, or to receive its leaders. It is forbidden to relay comments or interviews with former president Joseph Kabila. This is a major decision... This is not censorship: no rights have been violated. Television must not be used as a forum for subversion." Bosembe told a Kinshasa radio station.

Bosembe explained that this was a precautionary measure to curtail the moves of Kabila, who has recently aligned with the M23 and its political grouping, Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC).

Kinshasa had already tagged M23 a terrorist movement and forbade media outlets from reporting on their activties.

But the government has gone on to accept peace talks with the M23, mediated by Qatar, an about-turn from months ago, when officials said they wouldn't negotiate with terror merchants.

The latest CSAC decision is causing uproar, with journalists denouncing it as censorship.

The Union nationale de la presse du Congo (UNPC), the country's self-regulatory authority for journalists, said: "In order to remain rational and objective, regulation should always be carried out a posteriori and not a priori. Prior regulation is censorship without a name.

Journalists and the media cannot put up with censorship and the resulting inquisition," read a statement signed by UNPC chairman Kamanda wa Kamanda.

"The right of the public to information and freedom of the press are guaranteed by the Constitution, even if the Union admits that in times of war, restrictions may exist, and these are understandable."

Kamanda wa Kamanda went on to call on Congolese journalists to "show restraint and serenity in the face of this authoritarian drift towards unilateral regulation."

He urged journalists to redouble their professionalism in the exercise of their mandate.

Faced with a general outcry, the CSAC chairperson said the policy was meant to reduce "cheering subversion."

"We have not forbidden you to quote the name of the former president. What we are banning is the glorification of crime," he said.
The CSAC has also banned Congolese journalists from debating war operations, "unless they have an expert with them in the debate."

The CSAC chairperson's precautionary measure came against a backdrop of strong reactions to Kabila's presence in Goma and to the former president's latest public speech, in which he harshly criticised his successor, President Félix Tshisekedi, accusing him of "endless intoxication with power".

The former president's immunity has been lifted by the Senate, so he could face a trial by military court. His party has also been suspended.

The Minister of the Interior and Security Jacquemain Shabani has applied to the courts to have the party dissolved.