Goma, DRC | THE INDEPENDENT | Corneille Nangaa Yobeluo, the Coordinator of Congo River Alliance-AFC, a coalition of the March 23 Movement (M23) rebels has said that they are open to a direct dialogue with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government to solve the root cause of the conflict. …
Read More »Challenge of the Congo
How politics in Kinshasa combines with international power politics to undermine regional efforts for peace in DRC THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Once again, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is on fire. This week, M23 rebels captured the strategic town of Goma and are now advancing on Bukavu. At …
Read More »Uncertainty, humanitarian crisis loom in eastern DR Congo despite extended truce with M23
KINSHASA, DR Congo | Xinhua | Uncertainty and a humanitarian crisis loom in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), despite an extended truce until Aug. 3 between the DRC military and the Movement of March 23 (M23) rebellion, which controls nearly 100 villages in the eastern North Kivu …
Read More »Pope Francis arrives in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Pope Francis’ 40th Apostolic Journey abroad and his fifth Journey to Africa Kinshasa, DRC | THE INDEPENDENT | Pope Francis has arrived in Kinshasa, as he begins his Apostolic Journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The flight landed at the “Ndjili” International Airport in the DRC’s capital of Kinshasa …
Read More »Vendors starve as DRC protects rich and powerful from virus
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo has cordoned off the poshest and richest neighbourhood in its chaotic capital Kinshasa to protect it from coronavirus, dealing a body blow to thousands of street hawkers who earn a meagre living there. Gombe, a waterfront district housing ministries, top government officials, millionaires …
Read More »DR Congo confines, disinfects business district to fight virus
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Kinshasa on Monday closed off its upmarket business district for two weeks and began a large-scale disinfection operation in a bid to clean up DR Congo’s main suspected source of coronavirus. Access to Gombe, which houses the country’s main institutions and foreign embassies, was barricaded off to everyone except …
Read More »Panic, confusion in DRC amid fears of virus explosion in Kinshasa
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Lack of resources, a muddle over confinement and incipient panic are hobbling the response to coronavirus in DR Congo, fuelling fears especially for Kinshasa, one of Africa’s largest and most chaotic cities. Almost all of the infections in the vast central African nation have occurred …
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 »Attack at Kinshasa market kills police chief, administrator
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A deputy police commander and the administrator of Kinshasa’s central market were killed Friday in an attack by unknown assailants that also freed prisoners, police and witnesses said. The assailants attacked the administrator’s office and the police station at the market allowing inmates being …
Read More »SPECIAL FEATURE: DR Congo, home to a tenth of the world’s languages
There are 450 languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | “I haven’t once spoken my mother tongue Kilokele in the 62 years I’ve lived in Kinshasa. None of my nine children speak it,” says Charles Tongohala. Tongohala’s native tongue is one of 450 spoken …
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