Joe Bavier
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/ 22 January 2008

Congo war-driven crisis kills 45 000 a month

War, disease and malnutrition are killing 45 000 Congolese every month in a conflict-driven humanitarian crisis that has claimed 5,4-million victims in nearly a decade, a survey released on Tuesday said. The findings were published on the day the government and eastern rebel and militia factions were due to sign a ceasefire.

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/ 11 January 2008

DRC rebels rejoin peace conference

Tutsi rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Friday rejoined a peace conference aimed at ending long-running conflict in the east, a day after suspending their participation over security concerns. The rebels’ leader, renegade General Laurent Nkunda, told Reuters he was ready if necessary to take part in the meeting.

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/ 22 November 2007

UN to help DRC disarm dissidents by force

United Nations peacekeepers will help the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) army disarm eastern dissident groups by force in violence-plagued North Kivu province, UN and Congolese commanders said. Army soldiers and fighters loyal to renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda clashed again on Thursday a few kilometres from Rutshuru.

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/ 13 November 2007

Congo refugees flee after attack near camp

Thousands of refugees poured out of camps in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s violent North Kivu province on Tuesday after the army said Tutsi-dominated insurgents attacked its positions. Army troops repelled the dawn raid on their positions near Mugunga camp, killing 27 fighters loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda.

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/ 8 November 2007

DRC experts hurry to test river for radiation

Environmental experts hurried to the south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Thursday to test water from a river where authorities suspect 18 tonnes of radioactive minerals were dumped last week. Officials feared contamination of the river, an important source of drinking water for thousands of people in Katanga province.

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/ 7 November 2007

Radioactive minerals dumped in DRC

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have launched an inquiry into the suspected dumping of 18 tonnes of highly radioactive minerals into a river in Katanga province. The minerals, including 17 tonnes of copper ore with a level of radioactivity 50 times the tolerable limit, were seized last month in the southern Katanga mining town of Likasi.

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/ 23 October 2007

Ugandan rebel commander surrenders in DRC

A commander of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has surrendered in northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is in the custody of Congolese authorities, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Opiyo Makasi, reported to be the rebel group’s operations and logistics commander, gave himself up along with his wife.

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/ 21 October 2007

DRC army warns militia to disarm, thousands flee

Democratic Republic of Congo’s army on Sunday gave pro-government militia fighters 48 hours to disarm or face military action as thousands more people fled renewed fighting in the eastern province of North Kivu. Explosions and gunfire rang out before dawn in the hills around Rugari, a town of tin-roofed houses near the Rwandan and Ugandan borders.