News About Congo

Where is the 'rape capital of the world'?

Women and girls are the targets now.  Armed militias are not shooting each other.  They are using rape against women and girls.

BBC News - UN official calls DR Congo 'rape capital of the world'.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is "the rape capital of the world", a senior UN official has said.

Margot Wallstrom, the UN's special representative on sexual violence in conflict, urged the Security Council to punish the perpetrators in DR Congo.

Rape remained a dominant feature of the ongoing conflict in eastern DR Congo, with impunity being the rule rather than the exception, she said. More than 8,000 women were raped during fighting in 2009, the UN says.

"Women have no rights, if those who violate their rights go unpunished," Ms Wallstrom told the UN Security Council on her return from DR Congo.

"If women continue to suffer sexual violence, it is not because the law is inadequate to protect them, but because it is inadequately enforced," she said.

The UN mission in DR Congo, Monuc, has been trying to deal with the problem by escorting women on their way to market, developing early warning systems and working with local officials, according to a UN statement.

Just Scandalous

The Congo is not ready for the UN's departure.  Eastern Congo is still the wild, wild East.  One election does not make a democracy.

It's just scandalous to think of withdrawal of the UN forces.

U.N. fears Congo pullout will hurt fight against rape | Reuters.

Margot Wallstrom, the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, is visiting Congo, where thousands of women are raped every year, as the U.N. tries to persuade the government not to demand a hasty withdrawal of the U.N. force.

Democratic Republic of Congo has advanced legislation in place to outlaw sexual violence but Wallstrom said the country's capacity to implement it was "near zero."

"How will it help if (the U.N. peacekeeping mission) withdraws? Will it help the situation here? I think not ... I have a lot of fears," she added in Kinshasa Monday.

Aid agencies and rights groups accustomed to the violence and suffering during and since Congo's 1998-2003 war, which left millions dead, have been shocked by reports of the scale and brutality of the rapes by rebel and government forces alike.

The U.N. warning echoes a call last week by UK rights group Amnesty International, which called the situation scandalous.

With celebrations of the 50th anniversary of independence this year and elections next, Congo is keen for the peacekeeping mission, known as MONUC, to start withdrawing within months and wants the last blue helmet out in 2011.

Another ICC Asked To Help Congo

This time the ICC refers to the International Chamber of Commerce.  In the past, ICC has referred to the International Criminal Court.

Vodacom is one of the few cell phone service providers.  They are the best cell service especially in the rural areas of Congo.  Most people in rural village of Bulape use Vodacom.  They provide both voice and data service.

Vodacom Asks ICC for Administrator for Congo Division (Update1) - BusinessWeek.

Vodacom Group Ltd., which is 65 percent held by Vodafone Group Plc, is seeking an “interim award” from the International Chamber of Commerce to appoint an ”ad-hoc administrator” for its business in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Vodacom wants an administrator to reorganize Vodacom Congo’s balance sheet and convert the unit to a public company so it complies with its license conditions, Bob Collymore, head of corporate affairs at Johannesburg-based Vodacom, said in a telephone interview today.

Vodacom Congo Sprl, which is 51 percent held by Vodacom with the rest held by Kinshasa-based Congo Wireless Network, decided on April 9 to apply for arbitration proceedings after shareholders could not agree at an extraordinary meeting on a $484 million recapitalization and conversion of the unit to a public company.

Before the meeting, CWN accused Vodacom of usury, fraud, forgery, the use of false documents and abuse of trust, mainly over a loan that allegedly resulted in CWN incurring inflated interest and fees. Vodacom denies the claim.

Kidnapped aid workers released

The kidnapped Red Cross workers were released after about a week.  They are in good health.

Kidnapped aid workers released in Congo - CNN.com.

Eight staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross who were kidnapped April 9 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were released Friday, the Red Cross said.

The seven Congolese and one Swiss national had been held by an armed group since April 9. They were held after assessing the needs of displaced people in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the aid group said in a statement.

National Exams Are VERY Important

Congolese National Examinations are much more important than our SAT or ACT examinations.  These examinations determine class graduation and placement.  These examinations are given in primary and secondary schools.

IRIN Africa | DRC: Fighting foils exams in South Kivu | Great Lakes | DRC | Children Education Governance Conflict Refugees/IDPs | News Item.

Hundreds of final year secondary school students have been unable to sit all their national exams due to fighting between a faction of the Mayi-Mayi militia and the army in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) territory of Fizi, South Kivu Province, say officials.

“Fighting broke out at dawn on 13 April as we were preparing for the second day of examinations… No final year student or [education] inspector could go to the exam centres as most Fizi town residents were forced to flee gun battles after Mayi-Mayi militiamen attacked the town,” Pierre Lulonga, the head of the secondary and primary school education branch in Fizi, said.

Seven people died in the fighting between the army and the Union du Peuple Congolais pour la Revolution Mayi-Mayi faction, a witness told IRIN. The faction is also known as Mayi-Mayi Yakutumba, after the name of its leader.

At least 487 students were affected, having only sat the first day of the exams scheduled for 12-16 April, Lulonga said.

Eight Red Cross Workers Abducted

Someone asked me in the last week THE question, "How is Congo?"  I thought for a minute while I mentally searched for the last time I heard something bad happening in Congo.  Not much was happening.  The northwest area of Congo had seen unrest but the eastern Congo was quiet.

Just when I thought it was getting better!

Red Cross: Eight aid workers abducted in DRC - CNN.com.

An armed group in strife-torn eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has kidnapped eight international Red Cross staffers -- seven Congolese and a Swiss delegate -- the aid group said Tuesday.

The eight International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) personnel, who had just completed an assessment of displaced people in the Fizi area, have been held since April 9 by Mai Mai Yakutumba, a militia operating in South Kivu province.

Violent ethnic clashes in the South Kivu, related to the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, have forced thousands of civilians from their homes in recent months, the ICRC said.

Hunger Kills 700 Kids Per Day in Peaceful Congo

In safe areas, hunger kills 700 kids a day in five peaceful provinces in Congo.  Kasai Occidental (West) is one of those places.  There is no fighting, strife, or violence in 4 of the 5 provinces cited by the Minster of Health.  Only Equateur Province has had violence in the past months. 

These provinces are located outside of the Wild, Wild East provinces of South Kivu, North Kivu, and Orientale.  I would expect the daily death total of children and women is much higher. 

700 kids die per day in DRC.

THE Democratic Republic of Congo health minister said Tuesday that at least 700 children under the age of five were dying from hunger a day in five of the strife-ravaged country's provinces.

More than a million women aged between 15 and 49 were also malnourished in the five provinces, which together account for 51 per cent of the population of the vast central African country, Health Minister Victor Makwenge said.

'At least 700 children under five years are dying every day in the five provinces, where only one child out of five has a varied diet,' Makwenge told reporters. 'Close to 530,000 children under five and more than a million women need urgent food aid,' he said.

The minister was referring to the provinces of Equateur, Kasai, Kasai West, Katanga and Maniema. UNICEF representative Pierrette Vu Thi agreed that malnutrition was a public health problem in the country, despite its rich potential for food production.

The World Food Programme says that every month it helps to feed about a million vulnerable Congolese, including pregnant women and children.

HIV/AIDS Funding Is Limiting Treatment

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) said that only 10 percent of people, 35,000 people, in the DRC who need ARV's have access to them.  The main reason for the low numbers is lack of funding.

PlusNews Global | DRC: Funding crunch threatens ARV rollout | Great Lakes | DRC | Care/Treatment - PlusNews Economy Health & Nutrition HIV/AIDS (PlusNews) PWAs/ASOs - PlusNews Aid Policy | Breaking News.

According to MSF's Benazech, some programmes in the capital are no longer accepting new patients for HIV treatment.

"Many patients coming from the government hospital, which has run out of drugs, arrive at the MSF clinic when they are already extremely weak and close to death so their chances of survival are low," she said. "Patients on treatment are forced to pay for the CD-4 examination [which measures immune strength] follow-up... which is extremely expensive for the average Congolese person.

"HIV in the DRC is not chronic, like it is in many other African countries, where significant coverage is being reached; here it is acute," she added. "We urgently need more advocacy and mobilization for additional funding for treatment in the DRC; the situation is critical."