{"id":57119,"date":"2026-02-08T13:31:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T13:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/journalist-hariana-veras-under-fire-over-drc-reporting-bias\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:38:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:38:51","slug":"journalist-hariana-veras-under-fire-over-drc-reporting-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/journalist-hariana-veras-under-fire-over-drc-reporting-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalist Hariana Ver\u00e1s under fire over DRC reporting bias"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ver\u00e1s, known for her work with Angola\u2019s national broadcaster, TPA (Televis\u00e3o P\u00fablica de Angola), where she was praised for giving a voice to African perspectives, saw her reporting shift in early 2025 when President Tshisekedi began seeking U.S. support to stop the war in his country.<\/p>\n

In recent months, Ver\u00e1s has repeatedly framed the DRC conflict in ways that echo accusations from the Tshisekedi government. Claims such as \u201cRwanda is supporting AFC\/M23,\u201d \u201cRwanda attacked the DRC,\u201d and \u201cRwanda\u2019s aggression\u201d began appearing in her coverage, with calls for the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Rwanda.<\/p>\n

Since April 2025, Ver\u00e1s has largely ignored crises affecting other African nations, including Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, and the Sahel region, despite claiming to cover continental issues. Her posts on platforms like X and YouTube have focused almost exclusively on DRC.<\/p>\n

Neo Africa reported on February 6 2026, that \u201cVer\u00e1s has turned the DRC issue into her personal and professional battle.\u201d The journalist has not denied these claims, instead continuing to amplify them.<\/p>\n

Her approach has drawn sharp criticism from fellow journalists and officials. Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda said:<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease don\u2019t insult journalism by calling this woman one. She is a political hack paid to tarnish the name of Rwanda. What she doesn\u2019t know, if she cares at all, is that her lies cannot hide the truths about DRC\u2019s violations of the accords.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe, also condemned her actions:<\/p>\n

\u201cShe pretends to speak for \u2018the African people\u2019 in Washington. Yet, she travelled to Kinshasa twice in a year, where she met President Tshisekedi; she accepted a gift from him before cameras, and broadcasted her interview with President Ndayishimiye only on DRC public television (RTNC),” Nduhungirehe said on Saturday, responding to a video showing the journalist holding a microphone of the Congolese state media RTNC, where officials have been making ethnically charged statements and anti-Tutsi rhetoric.<\/p>\n

He added, “Lately, she was going around at the Capitol with extremely biased questions, displaying her unprofessionalism and obsession against Rwanda. And today, we are now discovering that she was holding a RTNC microphone at the White House; yet, she had never revealed that she was on Kinshasa payroll. Someone should have to explain this fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ver\u00e1s\u2019 reporting intensified even after Rwanda and the DRC signed peace and economic cooperation agreements on December 4, 2025, facilitated by the United States. Observers noted that her questions at the White House appeared to be prompted by the DRC government, as she seemed to allege and push President Donald Trump to comment on the alleged presence of Rwandan troops in the DRC.<\/p>\n

Following her recent trips and interviews with DRC President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi and Burundi\u2019s Evariste Ndayishimiye, analysts warn that Ver\u00e1s appears unaware of key facts, such as the identity and local presence of AFC\/M23 fighters. <\/p>\n

Ver\u00e1s\u2019 coverage has been criticised for amplifying the DRC government\u2019s claims without independently verifying them on the ground or posing balanced questions to leaders accused of lacking good faith in resolving the eastern DRC challenges.<\/p>\n

Observers warn that Ver\u00e1s\u2019 reporting exemplifies the risks when journalists become tools for political agendas rather than independent observers of conflict.<\/p>\n

\"Hariana<\/figure>\n
\"The<\/figure>\n
\"Hariana<\/figure>\n
\"Hariana<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hariana Ver\u00e1s, an Angolan-born journalist, is facing criticism for using her reporting to advance the political agenda of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) government under President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000101818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-57119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000101818,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/vers-88535.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/vers-88535.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/vers-88535.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/vers-88535.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/vers-88535.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/vers-88535.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000101818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57119"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=57119"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=57119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}