Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Rebels from an outlawed political-religious group attacked Kinshasa’s central prison on Wednesday, breaking out their leader and about 50 other prisoners, the Congolese government said. “Followers of the Bundu Dia Kongo (BDK) attacked Makala prison at dawn and broke out around 50 prisoners including …
Read More »Ebola in DRC
Ebola epidemic declared in northeast DR Congo, three dead: WHO Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The first Ebola outbreak since the crisis in West Africa that killed 11,300 people has been declared in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization said Friday, after the virus caused three …
Read More »CONGO: Militia clashes kill 29 in eastern DRC
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Twenty-nine people have been killed in three days of clashes between rival factions of a militia group in a village in Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive east, an official said Friday. The two factions are fighting for control of the village of Bweru in …
Read More »Kabila names opposition leader as Prime Minister
DR Congo president names new PM under power-sharing deal Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | President Joseph Kabila on Friday named an opposition leader as prime minister for the Democratic Republic of Congo, honouring a pledge made as part of a stalled power-sharing deal agreed in December. Bruno Tshibala, a …
Read More »Bodies found of two UN experts in DRC amid spiralling violence
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 …
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