Radio Okapi

On an annual budget of USD$4.5 million, a staff of 200 provide news and information to the entire urban population of the DRC.

Radio Okapi provides programming in French and in the four national languages of Congo: Lingala, Kituba, Swahili and Tshiluba, Radio Okapi was created by the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) and the Swiss NGO Fondation Hirondelle.

MONUC and the Fondation Hirondelle submitted a plan in 2001 to the United Nations, and the radio network went live on 25 February 2002.

[1] The station takes its name from the endangered Okapi, the elusive mammal native to the rainforest of northern Congo.

Myers also said "Although Radio Okapi can be a thorn in the government's side at times, its stance of promoting peace and democracy and the strong role it plays in civic education have led to its recognition, even by the Minister of Information, as a national asset that the Democratic Republic of Congo could ill afford to lose.