Online Special: 2000 International Press Freedom Awards Crisis in Central Africa index. Aug. 31, 2000 Easing tensions with religion in Rwanda. Aug. 28, 2000 President Clinton visits the new Nigeria. July 13, 2000 U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke discusses AIDS in Africa. June 27, 2000 Zimbabwe's elections. May 30, 2000 An update on the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Jan. 27, 2000 A look at Congo's President Laurent Kabila. Oct. 22, 1998 Discussion on the impact of Congo's political unrest. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of Africa.     UPenn Democratic Republic of Congo page Africa News Online Committee to Protect Journalists	Congolese journalist Modeste Mutinga evaluates his professional accomplishments with a telling set of standards: "I'm glad that I haven't been thrown in jail this year, only harassed." Mutinga, publisher of the Le Potentiel, has been jailed regularly for his paper's criticism of Congolese president Laurent Kabila. Yet despite arrest, detention, intimidation and confiscation of his passport, Mutinga has continued to publish the only independent daily newspaper in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) -- a war-torn nation at the heart of a war-torn region. Kabila came to power in 1997 after his rebel army ousted dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who had ruled for 32 years. Since then, Kabila, aided by troops from Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe, has himself fended off rebels backed by eastern neighbors Rwanda and Uganda. In October the warring nations agreed to retreat to positions held when a 1999 peace agreement was signed in neutral Zambia, but both sides have breached the cease-fire. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has described the fighting -- in an area roughly the size of Western Europe -- as Africa's first world war. Mutinga says the harassment he faces stems from this turbulence. He told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he is targeted because of "the general political situation in my country: the occupation of parts of the country by foreign armies, the stranglehold of the regime on the democratic process and the ban on political activities." The media, Mutinga argues, is the only outlet for government criticism in this intolerant environment. Therefore, the ruling powers are eager to target the pro-democracy and independent Le Potentiel: "All the arrests and harassment are the expression of their desire to silence us." Mutinga says Le Potentiel is basically an informational daily, but readers are most interested in political news because of Congo's democratic and economic shortcomings. Accordingly, Mutinga says Le Potentiel has "an agenda" of fostering democracy and economic development. He sees the press as "the voice of the voiceless" and as the source of uncensored speech. He vehemently opposes its involvement in war propaganda. Mutinga acknowledges that political pressure and intimidation threaten objectivity in Congolese journalism. He says arrests, torture and other threats often lead journalists to censor or retract controversial reports. Some give in to government pressure out of fear of losing their jobs. Still, "be it political terror or poverty, I believe that there's no pretext strong enough to excuse the cheapening of journalism," Mutinga told CPJ in a recent interview. "I recommend that journalists who sense they cannot resist corruption change profession."