Tag: DRCongo

Record number of children attacked and killed in DR Congo: UN

KINSHASA, Sept 30, 2023 (AFP) – The Democratic Republic of Congo is on track to see record numbers of children killed, maimed, kidnapped or sexually assaulted in 2023 for the third consecutive year, the UN said on Saturday. The number of “grave violations against children” in the conflict-racked country is estimated to be more than 1,700 for the first half of 2023, said UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency — which marks a 41 percent […]

Mediator calls for ‘peaceful resolution’ of DRC conflict

GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, a mediator in the conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, appealed again on Wednesday for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The former Kenyan president was speaking at a meeting in the eastern city of Goma in the conflict-torn region. “We are not here to open new negotiations,” he told journalists after having met the Congolese authorities, UN representatives and western diplomats. […]

UN sounds alarm on worsening hunger in DR Congo

GENEVA, June 20, 2023 (AFP) – The United Nations sounded the alarm Tuesday over the worsening hunger situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying time, money and resources to help were all running short. The UN’s World Food Programme said around 25.8 million people will face acute food insecurity this year in the DR Congo — roughly a quarter of the vast central African nation’s population, and the highest number of food insecure people […]

Toll from DR Congo floods rises to nearly 400: official

BUKAVU, DR Congo, May 7, 2023 (AFP) – The death toll from floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to nearly 400, an official said on Sunday. At least 394 bodies have been recovered after last week’s floods, said Thomas Bakenga, administrator of Kalehe territory where the affected villages are located. He had announced a toll of at least 203 people on Saturday. Heavy […]

After pope’s call for peace, violence rages in east DR Congo

by AFP eastern Congo correspondents Agence France-Presse GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — Pope Francis made repeated appeals for peace during his landmark trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo this week, but there was no let-up in fighting in the east. Putting an end to violence was a dominant theme of the pontiff’s visit to Africa’s largest Catholic country, where he arrived on Tuesday and was to depart for South Sudan on Friday. Dozens of […]

East DR Congo rebel crisis threatens endangered mountain gorillas

  Goma, DR Congo (AFP) M23 rebel activity in volatile eastern DR Congo is threatening mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park and leaving the endangered species vulnerable to poachers, a spokesman said on Tuesday. About a third of the global population of mountain gorillas lives in the park, a renowned wildlife reserve spanning 7,800 square kilometres (3,000 square miles) on the border with neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. But M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of […]

M23 rebels say Rwanda-DR Congo ceasefire deal does not affect them

GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — The M23 rebel group said Thursday that a ceasefire announced a day earlier “doesn’t really concern us,” while calling for “direct dialogue” with Democratic Republic of Congo’s government. “M23 has seen the document on social media… There was nobody in the summit (from M23) so it doesn’t really concern us,” Lawrence Kanyuka, political spokesman for the M23 (March 23) movement, told AFP. “Normally when there is a ceasefire it is […]

DR Congo declares end to latest Ebola outbreak

  Brazzaville, Congo (AFP) The Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday declared an end to an Ebola virus outbreak that emerged in eastern North Kivu province six weeks ago, the World Health Organization said. Only one case of the virus had been confirmed, according to a WHO statement, making the DRC’s Ebola outbreak its “least catastrophic”. Five people died during the previous outbreak — the central African nation’s 14th — which ended in July. Ebola […]

‘Catastrophe’: East DR Congo hospital overflows amid rebel fighting

by Alexis Huguet Agence France-Presse RUTSHURU, DR Congo (AFP) — Dozens of bandaged patients lounge on beds in a hushed hospital ward in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, groans of pain occasionally breaking the silence. Rebels, soldiers and civilians make up the wounded — all victims of the latest flare-up in violence in eastern DRC’s North Kivu province. After lying mostly dormant for years, the M23 rebel group resumed fighting late last year and has […]

DR Congo condemns Rwanda’s ‘support’ for M23 rebels

KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) — The Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday condemned neighbor Rwanda for “supporting, financing and arming” the M23 rebel group that seized an important trading hub near the Ugandan border. “We will defend every centimeter of our territory,” added a Congolese communications ministry statement, which came a day after M23 rebels took the town of Bunagana in the eastern province of North Kivu. The statement cited 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner […]

Belgian king, in shadow of colonial past, to visit DR Congo

  by Matthieu Demeestere Agence France-Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Belgium’s King Philippe on Tuesday begins a historic visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, in a region cruelly exploited by his ancestors, as tensions rise in the volatile east. The six-day trip, at the invitation of President Felix Tshisekedi, has strong symbolic significance, coming two years after Philippe expressed to the Congolese leader his “deepest regrets” for the “wounds” of colonization. The visit, the monarch’s […]

Plastic pollution cuts power in DR Congo

by Ricky OMBENI Agence France-Presse BUKAVU, DR Congo (AFP) – Among rolling hills around the southern tip of majestic Lake Kivu, huge layers of plastic waste ride the water and block the turbines of the largest hydroelectric plant in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Ruzizi dam is polluted by thousands of bottles, cans and other objects thrown into the lake, which stretches 90 kilometres (56 miles) along the border between DR Congo and Rwanda. […]