Police in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kinshasa, fired shots into the air on Thursday to disperse an angry crowd, days after clashes between forces loyal to two rival presidential candidates killed at least 16 people.The incident occurred as a joint European Union and United Nations force patrolled the streets of Kinshasa.
Businesses reopened and people reappeared on Kinshasa’s streets on Wednesday as fighting appeared to have ceased following three days of clashes between troops loyal to the two presidential candidates in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) capital.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila on Tuesday ordered all troops to return to barracks in a bid to restore calm to the country’s capital, Kinshasa, after three days of fighting between his forces and armed supporters of his main presidential rival.
Gunbattles shook the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa for a third day on Tuesday as the United Nations and foreign leaders pressed President Joseph Kabila and an election rival to halt fighting between their feuding forces.
Gunbattles rocked the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa for a third day on Tuesday after the announcement of a presidential run-off vote. A Reuters correspondent heard both small arms fire and the thump of heavier weaponry on Tuesday and saw army tanks moving in the direction of the latest fighting.
Heavy arms fire on Monday targeted the residence of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, a candidate in the country’s presidential election, diplomatic sources said. Bemba and foreign ambassadors of an international committee accompanying the transition to democracy, known by its French acronym of CIAT, were in the building when the attack began.
Congolese President Joseph Kabila’s guards fought gun battles with forces loyal to election challenger Jean-Pierre Bemba in the capital Kinshasa on Sunday, as poll results showed the two would have to enter a run-off. Kabila, with 44,81%, and Bemba with 20,03% of votes from the historic July 30 election, will face each other in a second round.
Incumbent Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila still enjoys a substantial lead in the presidential poll, but his score has dipped yet further below the 50% needed to avoid a run-off election, latest partial results showed on Friday.
The United Nations is investigating a suspected child prostitution ring involving its peacekeepers and government soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the UN mission said on Thursday. Among accusations being investigated is that pimps are using the presence of UN peacekeepers to lure vulnerable girls to go and work as prostitutes.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) should know the winner next week of historic presidential elections, with incumbent Joseph Kabila expected to keep his job despite opposition allegations of fraud. Two weeks after the vast Central African country’s first multiparty presidential in 46 years, Kabila has won 55% of votes among the one-fifth of ballots to have been counted.
At least four Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) election officials have been arrested in Kinshasa for electoral fraud, legal sources said on Friday, as 15 candidates complained of ”massive irregularities” in the poll. The suspects are accused of trying to falsify documents recording results from the presidential election held 12 days ago.
Election workers facing high logistical hurdles counted just over two million votes in the first 11 days since The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) historic vote, according to the Independent Electoral Commission. President Joseph Kabila held the lead in the presidential race, but the numbers were far from definitive, with only about 10% of ballots counted.
At least 10 people die every day from cholera and malnutrition in a camp for displaced people in Ituri in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a United Nations representative said on Tuesday. ”These deaths, for the most part children, are recorded every day in Gety,” Modibo Traore said.
A small passenger plane crashed into a mountain and then tumbled into a valley in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing all 17 passengers and crew, officials said on Friday. The Antonov An-28 carrying 14 passengers and three Ukrainian crew members went down on Thursday afternoon.
Up a hill, inside the heavily guarded compound of a former Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) dictator, lies a graveyard of Belgian colonial-era statuary. A horse-mounted King Leopold II is stashed under a tree and explorer Henry Morton Stanley lies on his back in the dust, knocked off his pedestal.
International officials on Monday hailed Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) landmark elections at the weekend as an example to Africa and called on presidential candidates to accept the results. ”This has made the DRC an example for African elections,” former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano said.
A mammoth vote count was in swing in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday after the war-ravaged country’s first free elections in 46 years. Current President Joseph Kabila is the favourite to win but the DRC, and neighbours with vast vested interests, will have to wait until August 31 for the result of Sunday’s first-round vote.
Millions of Congolese voted enthusiastically in their first free elections in over 40 years on Sunday, hoping to end years of war, corruption and chaos that have brought the mineral-rich African giant to its knees. United Nations officials and foreign observers said turnout was high and voting was mostly orderly and peaceful at the landmark polls.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) held its first multiparty election in more than four decades on Sunday, a colossal democratic exercise many hope will secure an end to years of fighting and corrupt rule that have devastated this gigantic, mineral-rich nation in the heart of Africa.
Millions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) headed to the polls on Sunday in historic elections meant to craft a new stability for the Central African state after four decades of misrule and a devastating war that drew in the entire region. Polling stations opened at 6am local time across the DRC for separate presidential and parliamentary votes.
Four people, including three police officers, are now known to have died and about 20 injured in rioting ahead of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) landmark elections, police said on Friday. Witnesses had earlier reported that one man had died in the violence, which occurred on Thursday outside a stadium where leading presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba was holding his final campaign rally.
Opposition protesters in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) rampaged down a main highway into Kinshasa on Tuesday, tearing down election posters and demanding the postponement of historic polls scheduled for Sunday. The several hundred demonstrators clashed with riot police who beat them with batons.
Police used clubs and tear gas to break up a political demonstration in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday that left several opposition supporters gravely injured, journalists and witnesses said. One protester lost his hand when a tear-gas canister exploded, according to eyewitness reports.
A local journalist in the Democratic Republic of Congo was shot dead on Saturday at his home in Kinshasa, press rights group Journalists in Danger (JED) said, calling it an ”ignoble crime”. Bapuwa Mwamba (64) was killed by three armed men around midnight at his house in the Matete district where he lived with a nephew, JED said.
A French radio reporter has been expelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for not having the right papers, said an Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporter who was at the airport. Ghislaine Dupont, special reporter for Radio France International was put on a Belgian plane late on Monday bound for Brussels.
Thirteen people, including one soldier, were killed in political violence as campaigning began for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) first competitive elections in decades. Demonstrators in the western city of Matadi attacked and killed the soldier on Friday before troops retaliated, said Christian Malidini, of DRC’s Association of Human Rights Defenders.
Transport workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have ended a three-week strike which crippled the country’s largest port, saying their main grievance has been addressed. Strikers had sought the sacking of the National Transport Office’s management committee, which they accuse of ”financial embezzlement”.
Strike action begun two weeks ago by transport workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has paralysed economic activity at the country’s leading port. The strike, in the south-western port of Matadi, ”affects the whole national network” of the National Transport Office, said Etienne Ntadila, staff representative at the public company.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s independent media regulator accused the president and several vice-presidents of allowing TV and radio stations under their control to incite intolerance and hatred before the July 30 elections. The vote for president and the national assembly will be the first since independence from Belgium in 1960, and it is seen as a key step toward stability in the vast country.
Up to 100 people were presumed dead following a fire on a ferry on the Congolese side of Lake Tanganyika, in Central Africa, reports said on Wednesday in Kinshasa. The ferry was travelling south from Uvira to Kalemie with several tonnes of freight, including barrels of oil and petrol, when the engine caught fire, United Nations-run Radio Okapi reported.
At least 73 militia fighters and 13 soldiers were killed last week in the Ituri province of north-east Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), military and United Nations sources said on Thursday. Regular soldiers clashed with rebel militia during a joint mission by the Congolese armed forces and UN troops, according to a UN spokesperson.
Militias are sowing terror in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ahead of its general elections in July, launching almost daily attacks against the overstretched DRC army, military spokespersons told Agence France-Presse this week. ”Hardly a day passes without a skirmish,” said Olivier Mputu, liaison officer of the Congolese Armed Forces in the north-eastern region of Ituri.