Ten people have been killed and 34 injured in fighting between rival ethnic communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern city of Goma, a spokesman for the provincial government said on Tuesday. The clashes broke out when protests against the U.N.’s MONUSCO peacekeeping mission, which some blame for failing to end to worsening insecurity and militia attacks, descended into violence between the two communities. Attacks by armed militias and inter-communal violence in Congo’s restive eastern region have killed over 300 people since the start of the year as government troops and U.N. peacekeepers struggle to bring stability in the mineral-rich region. The governor of North Kivu province, Carly Nzanzu Kasivita, banned all public protests from Monday and called for calm. “From now o...
DR Congo: A Sad Tale of Suffering in The Midst of Plenty… I saw a video today, of some Congolese who discovered a mountain full of gold in their region, and the villagers quickly swarmed in on the mountain, digging away with their hands and any other instrument they could find. Whether or not the video is authentic I cannot tell, but what I am sure of is the living hell that life in DR of Congo has become today. And this suffering is not due to a fault of theirs, but purely what God has blessed them with. [embedded content] The story of the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the largest and richest countries in Africa is one of suffering in midst of plenty. For years, powerful western nations plundered that nation, and now, since 1996, over 6 million Congolese have died in the most inhum...
Jubilation at the Makala prison in Kinshasa Friday as Congolese president Felix Tshisekedi pardoned at least 26 men, who were convicted for planning the assassination of ex-president Laurent Kabila in 2001. They include Colonel Eddy Kapend, a prominent figure, Nono Lutula, a former special advisor on security and Leta Mangasa, and a former head of the National Intelligence Agency. Tshisekedi freed the men through a presidential decree read on state television over the weekend. He said the pardon was out of “humanity, compassion and national reconciliation”. The ex-Congolese president, Laurent Kabila was assassinated at the presidential palace in Kinshasa on January 16, 2001. Despite a long probe into his murder, the exact circumstances of Kabila’s assassination is still in contention. Seve...