News About Congo

Forced to Flee

What would force you to flee your home?  A Flood, Tornado, Hurricane, Fire, Tsunami, or Nuclear Disaster are items on our list in the developed world.

In Congo, armed miltias are added to the list. 

 

Easy to Understand; Harder to Solve

 

 

The Democratic Republic of Congo sits atop one of the world's most vast deposits of diamonds and gold; yet it is also home to the world's most deadly war. In Rape of a Nation, photojournalist Marcus Bleasdale explores the connection. See the project at http://mediastorm.com/publication/rape-of-a-nation

 

The conflicts in Eastern Congo is not hard to understand.  It's easy.  It is a conflict between armed-miltia fighting over mineral rich territory in Eastern Congo.  It's the Congolese version of street gang fighting over drug territory.

So how to we try to stop gang wars?  You cut off their sale and distribution.  That's the aim of Dodd-Frank Act.  It going to highlight when American corporations who are buying and using illegal Congolese materials.  The Act requires American corporations to identify the source of gold, coltan, and other raw minerals.  Will this work?  Maybe, but it is better than doing nothing!

 

Measles

Mass vaccination program are a big challenge in Congo.  For example, the measles vaccines must be kept cold and under refrigeration until used. 

MSF responding to measles epidemics in the Democratic Republic of Congo - news - MSF UK.

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) is currently carrying out several mass immunisation campaigns to increase measles vaccination coverage in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after health authorities declared a number of measles epidemics. Medical teams have treated hundreds of measles cases.

Measles is a highly contagious viral infection which can spread quickly and can have deadly consequences for vulnerable populations. The DRC is one of the countries where the disease persists despite its successful control elsewhere in the world. “Epidemics like these are avoidable if the population has been vaccinated” said Karla Bil, MSF’s Health Advisor.

“Mass immunisation campaigns are so important because they raise the level of vaccination coverage and prevent unnecessary deaths” she added.

Sixty Children Were Killed

Many of the victim of the tanker explosion in Congo last were innocent children watching a soccer match at a theater.

Fuel distribution in Congo is hazardous at best.  In central Congo, independent dealers are every where.  However, most of fuel being distributed is diesel.  And fuel is most distributed in 55-gallon drums.  

Congo risks more killer fuel accident: expert | Top News | Reuters.

The Democratic Republic of Congo risks another fuel explosion like that which killed some 230 people at the weekend unless it boosts safety in the chaotic east and south of the country, a sector expert said on Monday.

More than 60 children, many of them watching football in makeshift cinema halls, were among those killed in the blast after an oil tanker toppled, and leaking petrol later ignited with the force equivalent to 343 kg (756 lb) of dynamite.

"It can easily happen again unless the government tightens safety measures," Alain Ilunga, deputy CEO of Congo's fuel distribution company SEP Congo, a joint venture with Total, told Reuters on Monday.

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.

You Need to Read about Lisa and Generose

Just imagine a Run for Congo Women being held in Eastern Congo!  That's great.

Op-Ed Columnist - From ‘Oprah’ to Building a Sisterhood in Congo - NYTimes.com.

Five years ago, Lisa Shannon watched “Oprah” and learned about the savage, forgotten war here in eastern Congo, played out in massacres and mass rape. That show transformed Lisa’s life, costing her a good business, a beloved fiancé, and a comfortable home in Portland, Ore. — but giving her a chance to save lives in Congo.

“Technically, I had a good life before, but I wasn’t very happy,” she mused. “Now I feel I have much more of a sense of meaning.”

Maybe that’s why I gravitate toward Lisa’s story. In a land where so many “responsible” leaders eschew responsibility, Lisa has gone out of her way to assume responsibility and try to make a difference. Along with an unbelievable cast of plucky Congolese survivors such as Generose, she evokes hope.

On this visit to Congo, Lisa is organizing a Run for Congo Women right here in Bukavu, for Feb. 28, with Congolese rape survivors participating. You can sponsor them at www.runforCongowomen.org. And one of those participating in the run, hobbling along on crutches and her one leg, will be Generose.

Congolese Airplane Overshoots Runway

Congo Airlines have been modernizing their fleet with newer (but) used from the United States and other western countries.  Have these newer planes have outgrown the older runaway?  Or is it just plain-old poor maintenance issues? 

AFP: Injuries as DR.Congo plane overshoots runway.

Injuries as DR.Congo plane overshoots runway (AFP) – 1 day ago

KINSHASA — Ten passengers aboard a Congolese airliner were slightly injured Thursday when the plane overshot the runway as it landed at a regional airport, witnesses and the airline said.

More than 120 passengers and crew were on board the MD-80 airliner which landed at Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after a flight from the capital Kinshasa.

The pilot failed to break in time to make a turn at the end of the runway, said David Blattner, head of the Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation (CAA) which operates the plane, adding that he did not know the accident's precise cause.

"The passengers were evacuated on the emergency chutes and in the rainy conditions, there were a number who were slightly injured," Blattner said.

The nose of the plane crashed into blocks of lava which have marked the end of the runway at Goma since a nearby volcano erupted in 2002.

Can Hillary Clinton Stop the Sexual Violence in Eastern Congo?

I am hopeful that Hillary's visit to Goma will bring an end to the rape epidemic.  I hope Congo, at least, get the attention it deserved. 

Hillary Clinton presses DR Congo on rape epidemic - Taiwan News Online.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday offered U.S. help to punish perpetrators of soaring sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo as she paid a lightning visit to its war-weary east.

Leaving aside her government jet for a small U.N. plane, Clinton became the highest ranking U.S. official to tour the desolate lakeside town of Goma to highlight a rape epidemic afflicting tens of thousands of women.

Clinton offered personal comfort to two rape survivors, one of whom was violated when she was eight months pregnant with the fetus ripped out. Speaking later to reporters as she flew on to Nigeria, Clinton said she felt "overwhelmed" by what she saw.

"It is almost impossible to describe the level of suffering and despair," Clinton said of the region torn by conflict with Hutu militants.

Clinton met with President Joseph Kabila in a tent outside the governor's mansion in Goma for what she described as "a very frank discussion" on sexual violence - including calling on him to arrest key officers accused of rape.