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CONGO-DETAIN Nov-16-2006 (340 words) xxxi
Congolese Catholic rights worker arrested, detained without charges
By Catholic News Service
BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo (CNS) -- A Congolese Catholic human rights worker was arrested and detained without charges in Brazzaville.
Christian Mounzeo, president of a Congolese peace and human rights organization working for accountability in the oil industry, was arrested Nov. 13 and accused of defaming the president. He was released Nov. 14.
A statement from Publish What You Pay, a coalition of international nongovernmental organizations that promote transparency in oil production, said it feared Mounzeo's arrest would result in charges of defaming the head of state, a crime in the Republic of Congo. Mounzeo was denied access to his attorney, which is against Congolese law, the coalition said.
Mounzeo's organization is affiliated with Publish What You Pay.
Brice Mackosso, secretary of the Pointe Noire Diocese's Justice and Peace Commission, and Michel Roy, advocacy director for Secours Catholique, the French arm of Caritas, were with Mounzeo when he was arrested.
Roy was accompanying the two Congolese to a hearing in a trial after they were charged with forgery earlier this year. Publish What You Pay said the forgery charges and any potential defamation charges are "a clear effort to prevent them from further campaigning on oil revenue transparency."
Mounzeo and Mackosso, who are on the board of Congo's Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative and leaders of the local Publish What You Pay affiliate, have worked to reveal the amount of money the Congolese government receives from oil deals.
Oil is the Congo's largest export; the country produced nearly 93 million barrels in 2005.
The Catholic Church has been active in the movement to open oil production in Africa to public scrutiny.
Despite its oil revenue, Congo's per capita income is under $1,000, and most Congolese live in abject poverty.
The Republic of Congo ranked 144th out of 177 countries on the U.N. Human Development Index in 2005. The country is still recovering from a 1997-1999 civil war that was fueled in part by competing claims on the country's oil wealth.
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