News About Congo

A Care International's Video -- Women in the Congo

A video highlighting Care International's work with Congolese women.

Police "Keep Out"

If you saw a sign posted in front of house that said "POLICE KEEP OUT", what would you think? 

Am I just untrusting?  I think that something bad is happening or something bad is about to happen.  I hope I am wrong.

Congo troops bar UN and aid staff

Congolese soldiers have been accused of barring UN troops and aid staff from an area where an operation with Rwandan troops is ongoing on a Hutu militia.

A UN spokesman in the Democratic Republic of Congo told the BBC it was "deplorable", when so many displaced people were in desperate need of help.

At least 3,000 Rwandan troops have crossed the border for the joint push on Rwandan FDLR fighters since Tuesday.

The rebel group's leaders have been linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

DR Congo and Rwanda agreed last month to take joint action against the Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which is estimated to be more than 6,000-strong.

Cross Your Fingers and Hope They Are NOT Right

Some of us cross our fingers and hope the weather man's prediction is wrong about a big snow storm or other severe weather.

Oxfam predicts things is going from get worst in eastern Congo.  Why?  The Rwandan army joining the Congolese Army to fight the Hutus rebels. 

Since August 2008, over 600,000 have been displaced by rebel fighting resulting in the death and suffering of thousands.  The eastern Congo front has been quiet over the last month.

Oxfam fears for civilians as Congo conflict takes new twist

Juliette Prodhan, Head of Oxfam in the Democratic Republic of Congo said:

“The impact the fighting may have on the estimated 600,000 people living in rebel-controlled areas is deeply concerning. Fighting three months ago, saw a quarter of a million people flee from their homes, and civilians killed, raped, and looted by all armed groups. This new twist in Congo’s violence has the potential to result in similar abuse and could significantly swell the one million people already displaced.

“The UN peacekeeping force is already overstretched and the 3,000 extra troops promised months ago have yet to arrive.  MONUC was not able to keep civilians safe when the violence escalated last year and, without reinforcements, it is unclear that it will be able to now.  

"Unfortunately for the long-suffering people of Congo, the humanitarian crisis could well get worse."  

Rwandan Troops Officially Cross into Congo

Is this a new era in Great Lakes' cooperation?  Rwandan government troops crossed into Congo to hunt Rwandan Hutu rebels.  This event is on the heels of the Tutsi rebels rejecting their leader, Nkunda, and vowing to join the Congolese army.

Nkunda had long said he was operating in Congo to protect his Tutsi people from the Hutus.

Rwandan troops enter Congo to hunt Hutu rebels | Reuters.

KIBATI, Congo, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Up to 2,000 Rwandan troops crossed into eastern Congo on Tuesday under a December agreement between the two countries to hunt down Rwandan Hutu rebels, Congo's government and United Nations peacekeepers said.

After an offensive last year by Congolese Tutsi rebels, who say they need to defend themselves against the Rwandan Hutu fighters, the Rwandan and Congolese governments agreed on Dec. 5 to launch joint operations against the Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels.

"The operations are beginning. We have invited Rwandan officers with their security contingents for their safety. They are observers ... The operations to disarm the FDLR are planned for length of 10 to 15 days," Lambert Mende, Congo's information minister and government spokesman, told Reuters.

Your Life May Depend on It

Take a deep breath!  Your climate and body's supply of oxygen and water are dependent upon the Congo's tropical rainforest.  Your life is dependent upon Congo. That's in addition to coltan and other minerals needed for our economic survival.

With some many other things happening in the Congo, the loggers have put your life in to danger.  The deforestation of Congo's rainforest will change your life.

The tropical rainforest are about 100 miles north of the Bulape. 

 

Congo set to halt most logging after contract review

Logging must stop on nearly 13 million hectares of forest in Democratic Republic of Congo after a government review cancelled nearly 60 percent of the vast country's timber contracts, the government said on Monday.

Congo, home to the second largest tropical forest in the world after the Amazon, has completed a long-delayed review of 156 logging deals aimed at stamping out corruption in the sector and enforcing minimum legal and environmental standards.

 

Logging, mining, and land clearance for farming are eating away at the Congo Basin, which accounts for more than a quarter of the world's tropical forest, at a rate of over 800,000 hectares a year -- an area roughly the size of Massachusetts.

 

The Violence was Quick and Deadly

The violence seemed to come out of nowhere in northeastern Congo which borders Uganda, Sudan, and Central Africa Republic.  Rebels from Uganda killed 620 people in the last month. 

 

This happened just after eastern Congo had settled down to a simmer.  Since August 2008, eastern Congo was seat of violence.  Hundreds of thousands of Congolese were forced from their homes.

 

It appears that the violence in northeastern Congo was a real flash fire both quick and deadly.

Rebels Kill at Least 620 in Congo, Groups Say

Ugandan rebels in eastern Congo have ruthlessly killed at least 620 people in the past month, human rights groups said over the weekend.

The Uganda rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army, hacked to death villagers in its path as it fled a multinational military offensive aimed at driving it out of northeastern Congo. In December, it appeared that the rebels had killed nearly 200 people.

The significantly higher figure comes from a two-week mission to the region by the New York-based group Human Rights Watch and the Congolese rights group Justice Plus.

In a statement, Human Rights Watch said that many of the attacks appeared to have been premeditated and that victims’ skulls had been crushed with wooden bats and axes.

Rebels declare truce

Can the breakaway faction declare peace in eastern Congo?  A mutiny group of Tutsi's Gen Nkunda rebel groups have taken control.

Nkunda had forced the displaced of over 250,000 people in eastern Congo since August 2008.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Rebels in DR Congo declare truce.

Senior officers of the main Tutsi rebel group in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo have called a ceasefire with government forces.

The breakaway faction of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) said its militia would be placed at the disposal of the Congolese army.

The move is expected to increase pressure on CNDP leader Laurent Nkunda to declare a full ceasefire.

New Ebola Cases Identified

Doctors without Borders (MSF) have found seven additional cases of Ebola.  That's not a good indication for the future.

The Times - 7 new Congo Ebola cases.

SEVEN more people have tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus in Congo, bringing the toll of suspected and confirmed cases to 46, according to the medical group Doctors Without Borders.

Ten Things You Can Do About the War in Congo

All ten things could help stop the violence against in eastern Congo.  Of the ten things, I challenge everyone to get the Obama Administration to get the Rwandan and Congolese Government to the table.  In the interim, hold all funding to the Rwandan Government until they stop supporting the Nkunda rebel group.

Ten Things You Can Do About the War in Congo.

The peace agreement signed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006 did not end the war.

An estimated 400,000 women have been raped in the past ten years in what can only be called an act of femicide--the planned and systemic destruction of women. Women have suffered fistulas from rapes with knives, guns and penises. Women have been forced to eat dead babies. Soldiers who are HIV-positive are sent to villages to rape wives in front of their husbands, girls in front of their fathers.

The systematic breakdown of the family is part of a larger plan to loosen the community's grip on its natural resources--diamonds, gold and especially coltan, used to make laptops and cellphones.

Watch Out Congolese People

I predict the rebels will be fighting against each soon.  And who is going to be caught in the middle of the fighting?  The poor Congolese people living in eastern Congo will suffer and die again!

VOA News - Splinter Group of DRC Rebels to Announce Committee to Manage Affairs.

The leadership crisis among rebels loyal to Democratic Republic of Congo renegade General Laurent Nkunda took a dramatic turn after the splinter announced a meeting with the media today (Thursday) to unveil a committee to manage the rebel group.

The leader of the splinter rebel group of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) said the committee to be unveiled Thursday would ensure that Nkunda's mismanagement and poor leadership would be dealt with.

Bosco Ntanganda, who was Nkunda's chief of staff, recently said he was taking charge of the rebel group, effectively dismissing the rebel leader. But the rebels loyal to Nkunda have rejected Ntaganda's claim, describing it as a mutiny which should be punished.