Mpondwe, Uganda | AFP | Before dawn, Congolese teenager Doneka Kabowo sets off for school in Uganda, negotiating miles of jungle, the threat of armed militias and an international border to reach her classroom. Every weekday morning, yet another obstacle stands in the way of 15-year-old Kabowo and hundreds of other …
Read More »Congo’s bread basket struggles to recover from conflict
Mindouli, Congo | AFP | “The trains are running again. We have peace,” says Didier, the station master at Mindouli, in the Republic of Congo’s southern region of Pool. But a glance at the weeds growing on the line connecting the capital Brazzaville and the port city of Pointe-Noire shows that …
Read More »Border friction in DR Congo on anniversary of Ebola outbreak
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | An Ebola epidemic in eastern DR Congo marked its first anniversary on Thursday with two more cases in the densely-populated frontier city of Goma and accusations by Kinshasa that Rwanda had rushed to shutter its border in response to the crisis. The two new cases …
Read More »Rwanda shuts DR Congo border after Ebola cases in frontier city
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Rwanda has shuttered its frontier with Ebola-hit Democratic Republic of Congo after a third case of the deadly virus was detected in the border city of Goma, the Congolese presidency said Thursday. The announcement coincided with the first anniversary of an epidemic that has claimed …
Read More »DR Congo Ebola epidemic widens on eve of first anniversary
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | An epidemic of Ebola in eastern DR Congo sharply widened on Wednesday, the eve of the first anniversary of the outbreak, with the announcement of a death in a major city and the quarantining of 15 people in a province that had previously escaped the …
Read More »DR Congo makes new push to fight year-old Ebola epidemic
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | An Ebola epidemic raging in eastern DR Congo marks its first year on Thursday in a mood of fear mingled with hope that fresh money and a change of leadership will turn the tide. So far, 1,790 people have died of the dreaded haemorrhagic virus …
Read More »World Bank deploys $300 mn to DR Congo to contain Ebola outbreak
Washington, United States | AFP | The World Bank announced Wednesday it was deploying another $300 million in crisis aid for DR Congo to help contain the year-old Ebola outbreak. The financing comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) last week declared the current outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International …
Read More »DR Congo urges calm after Ebola case in key city
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo have appealed for calm after an evangelical preacher fell ill with Ebola in the eastern city of Goma, the first recorded case of the disease in the urban hub in a nearly year-old epidemic. Goma, which has a population …
Read More »Kinshasa governor campaigns against rowdy nights and ‘filth’
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The long, loud nights of Kinshasa’s street life are set to be shortened by the new governor of DR Congo’s unruly capital, as part of a city-wide crusade against “dirtiness”. In less than a month, the bars spilling out on to the city’s highways and …
Read More »2019 AFCON: D-Day as Cranes face DR Congo
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Cranes start their 2019 Total Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) campaign against a tricky Democratic Republic of Congo side in a Group A match at the Cairo International Stadium on Saturday. Coach Sebastien Desabre’s side will be cheered on by a couple of …
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