Kampala, Uganda | Grace Matsiko – AFP | A five-year-old boy is being treated for Ebola in Uganda, the first case since a deadly outbreak in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo 10 months ago, Health Minister Ruth Aceng said Tuesday. Uganda has been on high alert since the outbreak across …
Read More »Ebola-hit DR Congo fears 1,500 dead from measles epidemic
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have declared an epidemic of measles which may have killed 1,500 people, according to statistical analysis. “We have been seeing an increase in the number of suspected cases of measles since the start of the year, …
Read More »DR Congo awaits repatriation of former opposition leader’s body
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Democratic Republic of Congo awaited Thursday the delayed return of the remains of former opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, an emotion-laden moment for the country after his son Felix became president this year. A revered opponent of authoritarianism in DRC, Tshiskedi died in Belgium in February …
Read More »New measures launched to strengthen Ebola response outbreak
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The newly appointed UN Ebola Response Emergency Coordinator David Gressly has declared that there is ‘no time to waste’ as the worst ever Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo enters its tenth month. The Declaration came with new measures to strengthen the …
Read More »High-security Ebola burials spark dismay, anger in DR Congo
Butembo, DR Congo | AFP | People in Ebola-hit eastern DR Congo are struggling to come to terms with high-security burials that are part of a hard-pressed strategy to roll back the disease. Anyone who dies of the highly infectious haemorrhagic fever has to be buried in carefully-controlled conditions designed …
Read More »Tshisekedi finally appoints PM, Katumbi returns to DRC
Lubumbashi, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday named a government veteran, Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba, as the next prime minister, a move that came nearly four months after his inauguration. Ilunga Ilunkamba was appointed under “the political agreement” between Tshisekedi and his predecessor Joseph …
Read More »Opposition leader urges ‘people power’ to oust DRC president Tshisekedi
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Martin Fayulu, who claims he was robbed of victory in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential election, on Sunday called for people power to drive President Felix Tshisekedi from power, an AFP journalist reported. Citing popular uprisings in Algeria and Sudan, he told a …
Read More »DRC ebola centre attacks worrying – UN health chief
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Attacks on Ebola treatment centres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), risk reversing the gains made during the current outbreak in the north-east of the country, the head of the UN health agency Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. Dr Tedros resounded …
Read More »EU gives UGX 12bn to refugees in Kyaka II, Kyangwali settlement
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The European Union-EU has given 12 billion shillings to support refugees. The over twelve-month project was on Thursday launched at the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) country offices in Kampala. Funded through the European Union’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department the project is …
Read More »Major DR Congo oil deal could be ‘void’: watchdog
Paris, France | AFP | A major deal allowing a company to drill for crude reserves in areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo bordering Africa’s largest protected rainforest may contravene the country’s own oil law, a watchdog said Friday. The transparency group Global Witness said that an agreement signed in …
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