A passenger plane carrying 85 people crashed into a crowded neighbourhood in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town of Goma on Tuesday, and only six survivors have been found so far, government officials said. Smoke engulfed the charred ruins of the aircraft, which appeared to have broken in two.
A senior manager at a world heritage African wildlife park was arrested on Tuesday as an investigation into the killing of 10 rare mountain gorillas gathered pace, a government minister said. Local environment experts said that "profound internal disagreements" within the conservation institute could lie behind the massacre.
Fresh clashes were reported on Wednesday between armed groups in a troubled region in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in breach of a three-week-old ceasefire. Soldiers loyal to rebel General Laurent Nkunda and Mai Mai militiamen exchanged gunfire in towns north-west of Goma, the capital of Nord-Kivu province, a local official said.
Rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda signed a peace pact on Wednesday with the government and Mai Mai militia to end fighting in the east of the country. Nkunda's representative, Kambasu Ngeve, signed the document at a ceremony in the eastern town of Goma, which was attended by President Joseph Kabila.
A conference aimed at ending conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was prolonged on Monday as rival sides sought agreement, organisers said. The gathering at a university in Goma, the main town of Nord-Kivu province near some of the conflict zones, was due to end on Monday, but its president said another day would be needed.
United Nations peacekeepers expressed fears on Friday for tens of thousands of displaced people under threat in the latest conflict zone in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Goma, capital of the eastern province of Nord-Kivu, has been rocked by clashes between rebels led by renegade General Laurent Nkunda and army troops.
Democratic Republic of Congo troops entered Mushake, a strategic eastern village, on Tuesday after a second day of heavy clashes with rebel soldiers. "Fighting is still going on in Mushake. We are conducting a search operation throughout the area before confirming the conquest of this position," said Colonel Delphin Kahimbi.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) troops clashed with rebels in the country's east for a second straight day on Tuesday as they sought to take control of a strategic village, the army said. Fighting in the past two days has killed four soldiers and injured about 20.
The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) army attacked a stronghold of renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda on Monday, a day after his men seized a strategic town from the government and forced out thousands of civilians, United Nations officials said.
Explosions and machine-gun fire echoed through the hills of east Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Friday, as government troops battled rebels for a third day amid a worsening humanitarian crisis that has displaced nearly 200 000 people in the past few months, a United Nations military spokesperson said.
Fighting flared in the Democratic Republic of Congo's powder keg east on Wednesday, as the army battled insurgent troops after killing 20 rebel soldiers who staged a pre-dawn attack. Men loyal to cashiered general Laurent Nkunda launched a raid on an army position near Rutshuru, the headquarters of an eponymous district in the troubled Nord-Kivu province.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) army said on Monday it had resumed control of an eastern town seized by rebel forces over the weekend and the heavy fighting between the two sides had ended. Forces loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda confirmed the clashes in the eastern Nord-Kivu region were over, and said they were waiting to hear about possible talks.
The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) army says desertions have weakened rebel forces ahead of a planned offensive against them, but rebel general Laurent Nkunda remains defiant. On Thursday the army put on show what they said were 80 deserters wearing ragtag uniforms from Nkunda's forces.
The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) army has orders to forcibly disarm soldiers loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda, President Joseph Kabila said on Wednesday, but he declined to say when the offensive would begin. "The armed forces ... have received the green light to begin, or rather to prepare, the forced disarmament of Mr Nkunda," Kabila said.
The United Nations made a last appeal on Monday for rebel Congolese soldiers to rejoin the national army. Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila had given renegade General Laurent Nkunda until Monday to send his fighters to army integration centres or see them forcibly disarmed.
Renewed fighting broke out on Friday between the regular army and renegade troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Nord-Kivu province, a local spokesperson with the United Nations mission in DRC said. "Clashes have been reported from Katsiru, a village between Mweso and Kitchanga," Monuc spokesperson Claude Cyrille said.
United Nations officials warned on Tuesday that fighting between rebels and army troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had displaced up to 500 000 people and left many in an "appalling" situation. The warning came as heavy fighting between forces loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda and the army continued in the Nord-Kivu region on Tuesday.
Renegade ex-general Laurent Nkunda said Monday that his troops had launched an "active offensive" against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) army in the east of the country. An officer in the DRC armed force confirmed that fighting had broken out again in the Masisi highlands.
War has been good to Masumbuko Kakera. The peace is making him richer still but the wily Congolese trader could not have become one of the wealthiest men in Goma without the years of foreign invasion, occupation and rebel governments, besides the help of nature's occasional assault.
