President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday said he was committed to working with the United Nations, which has deployed 17 600 peacekeepers in the Central African nation. ”The president has said that it’s important to continue working together with the United Nations,” UN Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro said.
Only a thin barbed wire fence protects Africa’s first nuclear reactor, once Kinshasa’s pride that today sits dormant on an eroding hill in a country wracked by decades of misrule and conflict. Last month international experts again voiced concern about security at the Kinshasa Regional Centre for Nuclear Studies.
Opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba left the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Wednesday, ending three weeks holed up in South Africa’s embassy after his forces were routed in two days of fighting that killed 600 last month. A Reuters witness said Bemba boarded a private jet bound for Portugal, where he is due to have medical treatment.
A total of 149 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) soldiers loyal to an ex-rebel leader have been disarmed after turning themselves in to a United Nations base. The soldiers, formerly loyal to ex-warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, began turning themselves in last month, after a two-day clash left at least 150 dead.
At least seven miners were killed when underground galleries in a diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) collapsed, a radio report said on Wednesday. Witnesses said dozens of people were underground when the collapse occurred on Tuesday night.
Portugal is waiting for formal Congolese government approval to receive ex-warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, accused of treason after his militia fought government forces last month, the Portuguese ambassador said on Sunday. Bemba had been expected to leave for Lisbon this weekend.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ex-warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, accused of treason after his militia fought government forces, is expected to travel to Portugal this weekend but has no deal for exile there, the Portuguese ambassador said on Friday.
Clashes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) capital last week left between 200 and 500 dead, the German ambassador said on Tuesday as European Union envoys expressed concern at the force used by government troops against political opponents. The figure came from hospital sources, aid groups and diplomats, German envoy Karl-Albrecht Wokalek said.
More than 100 people were killed in two days of heavy fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) capital Kinshasa, hospital officials said on Sunday, as diplomats expressed fears for the country’s fledgling democracy. Government forces restored order to Kinshasa late on Friday after routing fighters loyal to defeated presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s army restored order to the capital Kinshasa on Friday after two days of heavy fighting with troops loyal to former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, who the government accused of treason. Sporadic shooting continued after dark in the downtown area around United Nations headquarters, where about 900 civilians were earlier evacuated.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) authorities charged opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba with ”high treason” Friday on a second day of clashes which reports said had killed at least seven people. The former vice-president had sought refuge in the South African embassy late on Thursday after heavy fighting broke out.
Defeated Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba was sheltering in the South African embassy in Kinshasa on Friday after a day of clashes between his guards and DRC troops. At least two civilians were killed and a dozen wounded on Thursday in the violence in the capital Kinshasa.
Gunfire and explosions rocked the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kinshasa, on Thursday as armed followers of a former rebel leader clashed with government troops, witnesses said. The shooting broke out after the personal militia of defeated presidential contender Jean-Pierre Bemba defied a government order last week to disband.
The personal armies of two former Congolese rebel leaders have refused to disband as promised, ignoring this week’s deadline. The personal guard of Jean-Pierre Bemba as well as that of Azarias Ruberwa have continued their armed patrols, refusing to turn over the security of the ex-rebels to the country’s police force.
Two officials from the Regional Centre for Nuclear Studies in Kinshasa have been arrested in a police inquiry over the illegal sale of uranium, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) general prosecutor told Agence France-Presse on Thursday.
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/ 21 February 2007
At least 38 Rwandan militiamen and five democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) soldiers have been killed in clashes this week as DRC’s government strives to impose its authority on the country’s war-torn east, a United Nations official said on Wednesday.
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/ 10 February 2007
A miner found a 143-carat diamond in a river in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and sold it for ,4-million, an industry official said on Friday. Amos Maseko discovered the stone in a river near Banalia, 129km north of Kisangani, where usually only diamonds of between one and three carats are to be found.
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/ 7 February 2007
Violence last week in the Bas Congo province in western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) left 134 people dead, the United Nations said on Wednesday. ”We estimate at 134 the number of lives lost in these clashes,” Didier Rancher, a military spokesperson for the UN said of clashes between security services and members of the Bunda dia Kongo religious movement.
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/ 3 February 2007
Nearly 100 people died and 30 others were wounded this week in clashes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that erupted when demonstrators protesting alleged electoral fraud rampaged through several towns and security forces tried to restore order, rights groups and humanitarian organisations said.
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/ 2 February 2007
A bloody crackdown by security forces on members of a religious sect in the Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed at least 90 lives, medical and diplomatic sources said on Friday. A member of Monuc, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said the ”repression had been ”bloody”.
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/ 27 January 2007
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Saturday called for a ”good governance pact” in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in an address to the National Assembly at the start of a landmark visit to show support for President Joseph Kabila’s young democracy.
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/ 25 January 2007
The failure of efforts to demobilise thousands of fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and train a army would risk destabilising the country, Amnesty International said on Thursday. The group urged the DRC to forge ahead with integrating ex-combatants into the national army.
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/ 13 January 2007
A media rights group on Friday criticised the jailing of a journalist in Democratic Republic of Congo — the editor of the privately owned weekly Le Moniteur — following a libel case brought by a regional governor, suggesting it was driven by ”revenge”.
Antoine Gizenga, new Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), on Wednesday began talks on forming a coalition government to address problems of reconstruction, his spokesperson said. Gizenga was appointed last Saturday by President Joseph Kabila.
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/ 15 December 2006
It is not a well-known fact that just before the second round of elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations moved hundreds of peacekeepers from positions all over the country into the capital, Kinshasa. These soldiers were to become the stick of the UN’s carrot-and-stick plan, and were issued with armoured vehicles and heavy machine guns.
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/ 14 December 2006
A young woman accused of witchcraft was burned alive in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Wednesday, while in another town two men were burned for suspected rape, a radio station reported. The woman was stoned and then burned in Bugara, a neighbourhood in the eastern town of Rutshuru, the report said.
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/ 13 December 2006
South Africa will help the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to find a diplomatic solution to the ongoing fighting in the country, South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Wednesday. He was speaking only a day after the forces of warlord Laurent Nkunda apparently attacked and killed three men who wanted to return to the regular army.
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/ 12 December 2006
Thousands of people have been displaced by about a week of heavy flooding in the north-western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), United Nations and government officials said on Monday. Many houses were washed away, while some in low-lying areas were completely inundated, a local official said.
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/ 6 December 2006
Joseph Kabila was sworn in on Wednesday as the first democratically elected president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at a colourful ceremony attended by thousands of guests and seen by many as a possible turning point for the war-ravaged nation. Kabila raised his right hand before Supreme Court judges and pledged to ”uphold and defend the Constitution”.
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/ 4 December 2006
The swearing in on Wednesday of Joseph Kabila as the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) first freely elected leader may be a turning point not only for this war-ravaged nation of 60-million but for all of Central Africa. If the 35-year-old president-elect has the will and the skill to fulfil his campaign pledge it could help bring peace to a devastated region.
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/ 29 November 2006
A pledge by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) defeated presidential candidate to enter the opposition peacefully came as a relief to many on Wednesday, but concerns lingered that President Joseph Kabila may deny his party a meaningful role. Fears of a violent backlash were allayed on Tuesday.
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/ 29 November 2006
Government troops have regained control of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo town of Sake, although clashes with rebel forces continued around the municipality for the fourth straight day, a United Nations official said on Tuesday. The integrated brigade has retaken control of Sake” and three surrounding hills, said UN mission spokesperson Ajay Dalal.