The Greek-American was arrested in the Congo journalist Stavros Nikolas Niarchos of the African country’s secret services after allegedly approaching armed groups in the country’s southeast, a senior government official said on Sunday.
Local civil society organizations such as RECN, cited by local media, said Niarchos and a Congolese journalist were arrested in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi on Wednesday and taken to the capital Kinshasa.
A senior government official who asked to remain anonymous confirmed to AFP on Sunday that Congolese intelligence agency ANR is holding Niarcho in Kinshasa.
The 33-year-old journalist, who writes for US magazines The Nation and The New Yorker, had been in contact with armed groups including the Bakata Katanga militia, the official said.
“He made moves that had never been reported to the authorities before,” the official explained, noting that the government “needs to be alert” after the killing of two United Nations experts in 2017.
The UN had hired experts Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalano to investigate the violence in the Kasai region of central DR Congo, where they were kidnapped and killed.
“His principles Congo they are not interested in detaining an American journalist,” the senior government official said, adding that he may be released on Tuesday.
Niarchos traveled to the DRC to report on nature conservation, economy and culture for The Nation magazine, according to the journalist’s official credentials seen by AFP.
Source: News Beast
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