Congo-Kinshasa: How Many More Will Be Raped ?

As people around the world celebrate their loved ones on Valentine’s Day weekend, activists are working to ensure that the ongoing horrors of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are not forgotten.Over the past decade, hundreds of thousands women and girls have been brutally raped in the DRC, primarily by rebel groups vying over control of land and mineral resources.

Côte d’Ivoire: UN Helps Ease Former Fighters’ Return to Civilian Life

The United Nations is helping former combatants and members of self-defence forces to ease back into civilian life in Côte d’Ivoire, which has been divided since 2002 between the Government-held south and opposition-dominated north.The six-month initiative will offer vocational training and assistance for some 1,300 people and set up over 1,000 micro-credit projects, such as cattle farming and retailing activities.

Congo-Kinshasa: Kony Rebels Burn Hundreds in Church

Kampala — Hundreds of civilians were on Saturday burnt to death in a church by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels.The rebels set ablaze a church called Bima in the Democratic Republic of Congo at midnight as the faithful prayed.It is not yet known how many Christians were in the church at the time, according to Radio Okapi, a UN radio in Congo.In an indescribably savage manner, the rebels then attacked several homesteads, axing, cutting, slitting throats and crushing skulls with wooden bats and axes.The massacre occurred in the town of Tora and Libombi and two nearby mining communities located 130km from Dungu, the military base of operation lightning thunder.

Congo-Kinshasa: Tables Turn As Rebel Faction Declares Support for Army

Kinshasa — A rebel splinter group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has said it is ready to back joint operations planned by the governments of DRC and Rwanda against Rwandan Hutu insurgents based in the Kivu provinces.The self-styled new leader of the Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP), Desiré Kamanzi, also said he would not recognise the outcome of ceasefire negotiations in the Kenyan capital between the DRC government and the main CNDP wing led by renegade general Laurent Nkunda.

Congo-Kinshasa: UN Official Urges Combatants in DR Congo to Release Child Soldiers

The top United Nations official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today launched a new appeal for armed groups in the eastern region of the vast war-torn country to release all children remaining in their ranks.After meeting with a group of 20 children recently removed from the grasp of local militia in North Kivu, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the DRC, Alan Doss, spoke on local UN-backed Radio Okapi calling for the return of all boys and girls fighting in the war zone.”The recruitment and use of children by armed forces and groups is a war crime and a crime against humanity. This literally destroys the future of this country,” said Mr. Doss, who is also the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known by its French acronym MONUC.

Congo-Kinshasa: UN Calls On Rebels to Resume Talks With Government

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today called on the main rebel group in the east of the vast country to resume talks with the Government next week in a bid to end fighting that has forced over 250,000 from their homes since August.The mission, known by its French acronym MONUC, said the mainly Tutsi rebel group known as the National Congress in Defense of the People (CNDP) would have an opportunity at the talks in Nairobi, Kenya, on 7 January to raise with the Government all issues of interest to it.

Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Kill 189 Civilians And Torch 120 Houses

During the Christmas celebrations, LRA rebels conducted simultaneous attacks in several localities of Haut Uélé, northeastern DRC.At least 189 civilians were killed in the attack, according to local and humanitarian officials, with 40 civilians reported killed in Faradje, 89 in Doruma and 60 in Gurba, between the 26 and 27 of December 2008.A situational report issued by humanitarian actors in Dungu indicates that several officials were killed in Faradje, including the chief doctor (partner of  UNFPA and Malteser International), two priests, one school inspector, a pharmacist, a head of the Fédération des Entreprises du Congo (FEC) and the Deputy Chief of the Immigration Office (DGM). 20 children were also abducted.

East Africa: UPDF Planes Attack Kony’s Congo Base

Kampala — UGANDA, South Sudan and DR Congo yesterday morning jointly attacked Joseph Kony’s rebels hiding in Garamaba forest. The massive attack on Kony’s bases in the jungles located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo has the backing of the American government and other Western powers.The joint force is made up of the UPDF, the Congolese FARDC and the Southern Sudanese SPLA.

Congo-Kinshasa: State Forces Kill 500 Over Two Years, Says Rights Group

Security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo have killed some 500 political opponents over the past two years, with the full knowledge of the highest echelons of power, according to Human Rights Watch. The Kinshasa government rejected the allegations.A 96-page report, ‘We Will Crush You’: The Restriction of Political Space in the Democratic Republic of Congo, also reported the detention of 1,000 people and claimed many of these had been tortured.”The brutal repression against perceived opponents began during the 2006 elections that carried President Joseph Kabila to power, and has continued to the present,” said Anneke van Woudenberg, senior researcher in the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, at the report’s launch in Kinshasa.

Congo-Kinshasa: Top UN Envoy Voices Hope for Additional Troops in Volatile East

The top United Nations envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today expressed hope that the Security Council will shortly approve a request for 3,000 additional troops to buttress blue helmets already on the ground in the country’s east, the scene of fierce recent conflict.Currently, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, known as MONUC, has nearly 6,000 troops in North Kivu province, which has been wracked by fighting between Government forces and rebel militias.The Council’s authorization for extra forces will “enable us to reinforce our presence, particularly in North Kivu, which is really needed given the pressures on us from many direction,” Alan Doss, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, told reporters in New York via video link from the DRC.