Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Two foreign UN experts who were kidnapped in DR Congo have been found dead, one of them decapitated, the government said Tuesday, as spiralling violence in the vast country sparked international condemnation. The bodies of American Michael Sharp and Swedish national Zahida Catalan were …
Read More »In a first, ICC awards Congo war crimes victims $250 each
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | The International Criminal Court Friday ordered 297 victims of ex-Congolese warlord Germain Katanga to each be paid “a symbolic” $250 in damages for a brutal 2003 attack on their village, in the tribunal’s first such award. Awarding both individual and collective damages, the court also …
Read More »France warns against cuts to UN mission in DR Congo
United Nations, United States | AFP | France’s ambassador to the United Nations warned Tuesday that drastic cuts to the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo would be tantamount to “playing with fire” as the country faces election turmoil. France has circulated a draft resolution to renew …
Read More »DR Congo detains guru leader of outlawed cult
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The Democratic Republic of Congo announced Saturday that it had detained the spiritual leader of the Bundu dia Kongo (BDK) movement, an outlawed group that has called for an insurrection against the government. A policeman and three BDK fighters were killed when the police …
Read More »DRC: 16 killed in three days of clashes with M23
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Sixteen people have been killed in three days of fighting this week that pitted the Democratic Republic of Congo’s army against a rebel militia, a military spokesman told AFP Thursday. Guillaume Djike, a spokesman for the army in troubled North Kivu province in the …
Read More »Uganda admits scores of Congolese M23 rebels escaped base
Kampala, Uganda | AFP | Uganda’s government said Thursday that 40 Congolese rebels quartered at a Ugandan military base since 2014 have disappeared, while more than 100 were caught trying to cross into the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congolese government said Sunday that at least 200 former members of …
Read More »UN ‘ready to engage’ if Congo rebels invade
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The UN said Wednesday it had no confirmation of an incursion into Democratic Republic of Congo by scores of rebels sheltering in Uganda, but that it was “ready to engage” if it were the case. The DRC government said Sunday that at least 230 …
Read More »UGANDA: No M23 rebels have left camp
Uganda military denies Congolese rebels left camp Kampala, Uganda | AFP | Uganda’s military on Monday denied that armed Congolese rebels sheltering in the country had crossed back into the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying they were still in their camp. The DRC government said Sunday that at least 200 …
Read More »DRC opposition figure Lumbala arrives in Kinshasa
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A DR Congo opposition leader accused of “high treason” returned to Kinshasa on Sunday two weeks after a key deal to end a political crisis in the vast African country. Roger Lumbala, head of the small opposition Rally of Congolese Democrats and Nationalists (RCD-N), …
Read More »DRC claims M23 rebels cross from Uganda, ‘clash with army’
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) officials have said that armed Congolese rebels crossed back overnight into the country from their longtime refuge in Uganda, prompting fears that a guerilla conflict put to rest in 2013 could be rekindled. At least 200 former members of …
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