#Other countries : An American journalist has been arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo by intelligence services on the grounds that he had approached armed groups in the south-east of the country, a senior government official told AFP on Sunday.
A senior government official who requested anonymity confirmed to AFP the arrest of the American, adding that the Congolese intelligence agency, the ANR, was detaining him in Kinshasa.
The 33-year-old journalist, who writes for American magazines The Nation and The New Yorker, had contacted local militias, the official said.
«The ANR brought journalist Nicholas Niarchos back to Kinshasa to question him about his close contacts with armed groups, particularly the Bakata Katanga»he said.
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«He made movements that were never previously reported to the authorities»also justified the official, considering that the government «must be vigilant” after the killing of two UN experts in 2017.
The UN had hired American experts Michael Sharp and Swedish-Chilean Zaida Catalan to investigate violence in the Kasai region of central DRC, where they were kidnapped and killed.
«Congolese authorities have no interest in keeping an American journalist»said the government official, adding that the American consul had visited him and that he could be released on Tuesday.
Niarchos had traveled to the DRC to report on nature conservation, economy and culture for The Nation magazine, according to the journalist’s official accreditation seen by AFP.
Neither The Nation nor the US embassy in Kinshasa was immediately reachable to react.