Tag Archives: DRCongo

Kolwezi, DR Congo | AFP | In early 2014, according to local folklore, a man digging a septic tank or a well in his garden in Kasulo came across rocks with a distinctive grey-green sheen: cobalt. From then on — rather like the find at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 that …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has agreed to a request from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to visit his country ahead of elections later this year, the UN spokesman said Tuesday. Guterres wrote to Kabila to propose a joint visit with African …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | At least two people were wounded as police fired live bullets and tear gas Sunday to break up a banned protest against DR Congo President Joseph Kabila in Kisangani, the country’s third largest city, as tensions mounted nationwide. An AFP journalist in the northeastern …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Tensions soared in Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday as hundreds of ruling party supporters stormed Kinshasa cathedral after authorities banned a planned church-backed rally against President Joseph Kabila. The incident came as the chronically unstable nation braced for more unrest following months of tension …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have banned a protest march planned Sunday against President Joseph Kabila, after two similar rallies were brutally put down last month. Kinshasa governor Andre Kimbuta told the Catholic organisers in a letter on Saturday that without …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A protest march by opponents of DR Congo President Joseph Kabila looked set to go ahead Sunday after authorities and organisers failed to agree an official route, after two similar rallies were brutally put down last month. Kinshasa governor Andre Kimbuta on Saturday invited …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Efforts to force DR Congo President Joseph Kabila to quit face a key test on Sunday when protestors, backed by the Catholic church, return to the streets after two demonstrations that the authorities bloodily repressed. Fifteen people were killed by security forces on New …

Lubumbashi, DR Congo | AFP | Rebels have wanted to kill him, NGOs accuse him of exploitation and Chinese newcomers have rattled his Congo mining empire, but George Forrest, one of Africa’s biggest businessmen, remains unbowed. The head of the Forrest Group, which is worth an estimated $800 million (650 …

Kampala, Uganda | AFP | Twenty-six Congolese refugees at a fast-growing camp in western Uganda died from acute diarrhoea in just three days, the UN said Thursday. Tens of thousands of people have fled an upsurge of fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo this year, many …

Kolwezi, DR Congo | AFP | In global markets the price of cobalt, a mineral used in batteries for high-tech products from iPhones to Tesla electric cars, has nearly tripled to $81,500 a tonne in two years. But in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which produced two-thirds of the global …