DRC's PM resigns - DRC is a country the size of Western Europe & contains a third of the world's cobalt and 4% of global copper reserves

Bloomberg report by Franz Wild September 25, 2008 Congo's Prime Minister Resigns, Citing Health Reasons (Update 1) - excerpt:

Democratic Republic of Congo Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga resigned for health reasons, his spokesman Patrick Muyaya said.

The 82-year-old leader's resignation means the entire Cabinet will have to be replaced, Muyaya said in a telephone interview today from the capital, Kinshasa. Gizenga is a member of the Unified Lumumbist Party, known by its French acronym Palu, which is the second-largest party in the governing Alliance for the Presidential Majority.

Congo held its first democratic elections in four decades in 2006, a key step in the central African nation's transition after civil wars between 1996 and 2003 killed more than 4 million people. The country, the size of Western Europe, contains a third of the world's cobalt and 4 percent of global copper reserves.

Hat tip Friends of the Congo

YouTube video from The Frontline Club: "Demystifying the Congo"

Note this multimedia presentation on DR Congo for Frontline Club, London, UK:



Added to YouTube by Frontline Club on April 28, 2008
542 views, as at September 24, 2008.
URL: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnW3ZnU3mSo

Hat tip Ali M (The Malau) of The Salon

Frontline's membership is drawn from the most talented photographers, cameramen and writers in independent news gathering. It also embraces people from the wider media, NGOs and individuals who care about press freedom and the world's conflicts and struggles. See more at http://www.youtube.com/user/FromTheFrontline

Bookmark the Frontline's website: http://www.frontlineclub.com

University of Bergen in Norway is searching for Congolese musicians who perform Congolese music (Update 2)

Email just received:

From: maria DOT glenna AT student DOT uib DOT no
Subject: Congolese musicans
Date: 23 September 2008 09:29:01 BST
To: ingrid DOT jones AT virgin DOT net

Dear Madam.

I'm a student at the University of Bergen in Norway. Some fellow
students and I are interested in human rights issues in The Democratic
Republic in Congo and especially women and children.

We plan to arrange a concert and are looking for Congolese musicans,
hopefully whom are interested in the same issues. We have searched the
internet for such a musician, but have not been successful. We therefore
contact you to ask if you have any suggestions of Congolese musicians
who perform Congolese music.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Best regards,
Maria Glenna
- - -

UPDATE (1) - THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2008

Thanks to Ndesanjo Macha, Saharan Africa Editor at Global Voices, for picking up on above post. Check out comment already received at Ndesanjo's Global Voices post - D.R of Congo: Searching for Congolese musicians - by Ira Simmons:

Ndesanjo Macha,
I’m working with several of the most popular Congolese musicians based in Kinshasa.
When would you like them to come to Norway?
(Papa Wemba, JB Mpiano and Fally among others)
Ira Simmons

Note, Ndesanjo is a Tanzanian blogger, journalist, lawyer and digital activist interested in finding ways to amplify voices from non-English speaking parts of the world. He mostly blogs in Kiswahili at Jikomboe and at Digital Africa and can be reached at: africa AT globalvoicesonline DOT org

P.S. This is more proof of the power of blogging. In my experience, ask a blogger anywhere in the world a good question and you get feedback within hours. I love bloggers and blogging! One of the reasons I have a network of blogspots (100 in all) is to show how any person in the world, no matter what their circumstances, situation or health, can become a blogger and start blogspots such as this site, Congo Watch, without it costing a penny via the wonderful Blogger.com and free photo hosting at Flickr, not to mention free news readers (I use NetNewsWire) and super easy to use SiteMeter for traffic counting and statistics (also used by Instapundit). One day, I'll post some graphs of Congo Watch traffic stats courtesy of SiteMeter.

Here's another tip, whenever anyone I know is thinking of buying, renting or borrowing a computer, I highly recommend any Apple Mac because they are fabulous to use and, unlike personal computers and Windows software, get no hassle with viruses. I have adored Apple Macs ever since I started using one at work, for desktop publishing, in 1988. Not sure if they still do it, but each week on a certain day, Apple online advertise refurbished Macs for sale at knock down prices.

P.P.S. Where's Louis and Ali et al? Must find out. I've missed our little bunch of original Congo Watchers. I'm working on some posts to try and unearth them. Of course, I could email them but this way is much more interesting fun.
- - -

UPDATE (2) - THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2008

Email just received from Maria Glenna at University of Bergen, Norway:

From: maria glenna
Subject: Congolese musicans
Date: 25 September 2008 13:00:05 BST
To: ingrid jones

Good Afternoon Ingrid.

I have contacted you about Congolese Musicians. There is a special
reason why this is so important to me and to my fellow students in Bergen.

This morning at 10 a.m. local time the Laureate of the Rafto Prize 2008
was announced. The 2008 Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize is
awarded to Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josué for his dedication to end the
plight of the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The prize ceremony will take place Sunday 2nd of November.
Traditionally musicians whom relate to that particular human rights issue will
perform at the prize ceremony. We are therefore looking for Congelese
musicians who relates to the human rights issues Pastor Bulambo has been
working hard to promote.

You can read more about the Rafto Foundation here:
http://www.rafto.no/?page=20

The English press release is attached to this email.

Best regards,

Maria Glenna
On behalf of the Rafto Foundation.
- - -

PRESS RELEASE - September 25, 2008

The 2008 Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize is awarded to Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josué for his dedication to end the plight of the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).



Photo: The 2008 Rafto Prize Laureate Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josué outside the office of Communauté des Eglises Libres de Pentecôte en Afrique (CELPA) in Bukavu, eastern Congo. Photo taken: August 28, 2008. Photo: Tor Magne Kommedal/the Rafto Foundation

The 2008 Rafto Prize awarded to Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josué ‐ DRC Church leader brings hope to eastern Congo

The Board of the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights awards the 2008 Rafto Prize to Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josué for his dedication to end the plight of the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). His work brings hope for peace, reconciliation and human dignity to a people that have suffered from the deadliest conflict since World War II.

The most frequent targets of this hidden war are women. In the last ten years in Congo, hundreds of thousands of women have been raped, many in excessively brutal gang rapes.

Pastor Bulambo’s message is clear and simple: “We can no longer accept that our daughters, our sisters and our wives are raped. It should be possible for women to be safe. It is our responsibility to make life safe.”

The DRC faces a grave humanitarian crisis resulting from what has become known as the First African World War.

The war in the Congo is significantly linked to the Rwandan genocide. Many African countries and countless militia groups are involved.

Since 1998 more than 5 million people have lost their lives, and ordinary civilians are disproportionately affected by the conflict.

The Eastern Congo region is particularly unstable. Law and order has broken down, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate and fears are rising that the hostilities will escalate.

Women have been systematically abused and raped as a strategy of war. Children are kidnapped and forced into service as child soldiers and as sex slaves. The scale of the atrocities has created a society in which the norms of conduct have been broken down and women and children live in constant terror of brutal assault.

From this turbulent environment, Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josué emerges as a visionary church leader with high personal integrity and a unique ability to turn strategies into concrete action. He works ceaselessly and selflessly at the grassroot level to help the people of his country help themselves. Pastor Bulambo is also a team builder and has recruited competent local leaders who, under the most challenging of circumstances, run schools, support programs for child soldiers and survivors of rape.

Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe serves as Vice President of the Protestant Council of Churches, the Eglise du Christ au Congo (ECC), in the DRC’s South Kivu province. His prominence as a church leader has allowed him to preach democratic ideals in an effort to quell rising tensions between ethnic groups in the region.

Bulambo Lembelembe Josué is also the Vice President of Héritiers de la Justice, a human rights organization he helped to establish in 1991. The organization works to raise awareness of human rights, assists victims of human rights abuses and stop impunity from sexual violence. Bulambo stresses that no amnesty should be given to perpetrators of sexual violence.

As the president of the Pentecostal church (1995‐2005), Communauté des Eglises Libres de Pentecôte en Afrique (CELPA), Pastor Bulambo initiated a rehabilitation program for women victims of rape (CAMPS). The program offers medical and psychological treatment, in addition to training and assistance to enable the women to start their own businesses and become valuable members of their society. A special focus is placed on building respect and dignity for women who suffer from the social stigma attached to victims of sexual assault.

Through CELPA, Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josué also established a program to help child soldiers. Approximately 40 per cent of these are girls, many of whom have been subjected to sexual violence in addition to traumatizing experiences as soldiers.

Bulambo Lembelembe Josué has shown a remarkable ability to organize and implement programs that have helped to relieve the suffering of civilians in the face of war. Furthermore, he has worked actively to create peace. He initiated, and is currently leading, a dialogue project that works at the local level to disarm and repatriate groups linked to the Rwandan genocide.

The international community has, despite a wide‐ranging engagement, not yet succeeded in putting an end to the horrific acts of violence in the DRC. However, Bulambo Lembelembe Josué through his example and achievements is a source of hope that the Congolese themselves, through rebuilding their civil society, step by step can achieve reconciliation and secure the respect for human rights and human dignity. The Rafto Foundation calls on the international community to support their efforts.

The 2008 Rafto Prize is awarded at the National Venue of Theatre (Den Nationale Scene), in Bergen, Norway on Sunday 2 nd of November at 18.00‐19.30

Break the Silence Benefit CD "Congo's Angels" for Congo Week Oct 19-25

Irma Thomas, Neko Case, and Susan Cowsill Join Prominent Women Singers, Songwriters and Poets on Break the Silence Benefit CD for Congo Week

Excerpt from a Press Release just received from Friends of the Congo:

Washington, DC - September 19, 2008 - Grammy winner Irma Thomas, Americana singer Neko Case, and pop icon Susan Cowsill join forces with noted women singers, songwriters and poets to benefit rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Contributors include Eliza Gilkyson, Caroline Aiken, Karen Protti-Bailey, Claire Holley, Kim Carson, Theresa Davis, Mary LaSang, Ruby Rendrag, Gospel Gossip, Sonia Tetlow, Herman Put Down the Gun, Karen Garrabrant, Dede Vogt, Caroline Herring, Janet Bean, and Leilani Rivera Bond

Women singers, songwriters, and poets have joined forces and donated 20 tracks for a limited edition compilation CD to raise awareness about violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "Congo's Angels" is scheduled for release during Break the Silence Congo Week, October 19-25. Congo Week is a global initiative led by students throughout the globe to raise awareness about the escalating violence against women and children in the Congo and provide support. Students and community organizers in at least 100 countries and 1,000 campuses are expected to organize an activity or event in solidarity with the people of the Congo.
 
On Monday, September 22, 2008 from 10 AM, a press conference will be held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to launch the countdown to Congo Week.
 
All proceeds from the sale of "Congo's Angels" will go directly into a special account, designed to offer transparency in accounting. Friends of the Congo (www.friendsofthecongo.org), a U.S. based tax-exempt non-profit, will manage this account. No monies, except minimal distribution costs, will be taken from sales.

Friends of the Congo, 1629 K Street, NW, Ste 300, Washington, DC 20006
www.friendsofthecongo.org

Map of attacks and LRA base - DR Congo's army has sent 200 troops to Dungu, DRC

Earlier this month, the Democratic Republic of Congo's army and the UN began a military operation to try to contain the activities of Ugandan LRA terrorist group leader Joseph Kony.



Source: BBC News 'Rebel leader targeted in DR Congo' report dated Monday, 8 September 2008. Excerpts:

The campaign follows failed attempts to negotiate an end to the rebellion by his Lord's Resistance Army.

Congo's army has sent 200 troops to the northern town of Dungu, where hundreds have sought refuge from the LRA.

The LRA fought a 20-year war against the government in northern Uganda. Some two million people were displaced.

Note, the report says Mr Kony is thought to have been rebuilding his forces.

Also note, as stated here many times before, the USA treats the LRA as a terrorist organisation and, in my view, rightly so.

One wonders about the financing and arming of the LRA over the past 20 years. How come, in this day age, the sources of funding, armaments and munitions for African rebel groups manage to remain such a secret over past twenty years? I wish professional journalists would tell us because it would help make sense of what is going on in and around Africa and why.

[Cross posted to parent site Sudan Watch and sister sites Uganda Watch and Niger Watch]

Rebels rearming and clashing with army in east of DR Congo near gorilla park - UN has 17,000 peacekeepers in DR Congo

Friday August 28, 2008 (BBC) report - excerpts:

Rebels and army clash in DR Congo

Clashes have erupted between fighters loyal to rebel leader Laurent Nkunda and the army in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN says.

Both sides have blamed each other for starting the fighting, which lasted several hours.

The UN mission told the BBC 18 rebels had been admitted to hospital, while AFP news agency said 50 government soldiers were also receiving treatment.

It is the heaviest fighting in the east since a January peace deal.

Earlier this month, US and European Union diplomats warned that the situation in eastern DR Congo was becoming increasingly tense and that all sides were rearming.

"They are mutually claiming the other side started it. At the moment it's very difficult to confirm who has started it," UN mission spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Paul Dietrich told the BBC.

Lt-Col Dietrich said the UN believed that Mr Nkunda - a renegade general - was trying to expand the rebels' zone of influence.

Reports earlier this month indicated that Gen Nkunda was touring his area, strengthening his defences and recruiting fresh forces.
The UN has 17,000 peacekeepers in DR Congo.

Full report 'Rebels and army clash in DR Congo' (last updated at 16:21 GMT, Thursday, 28 August 2008 17:21 UK) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7586617.stm
- - -

Friday August 29, 2008 news report - source unknown (hat tip XXPANTHAXX at assatashakur.org forum) -

Congo rebels, army clash near Congo gorilla park

KINSHASA, Congo - Rebels and the army fought one of their fiercest battles in eastern Congo this year on Thursday, exchanging machine-gun and mortar fire all day outside a national park that is home to some of the world's last mountain gorillas. U.N.-funded Radio Okapi reported at least four people were killed and several wounded. At least one of the dead was an army soldier, it said. The U.N. mission told the British Broadcasting Corp. that 18 rebels were injured.

Despite a January cease-fire deal, rebels led by Laurent Nkunda fought army units in the village of Matebe, as well as Gasiza and Kalomba, both located on the outskirts of Virunga National Park, U.N. spokesman Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich said.

"Almost the entire population of the area has fled," Dietrich said, adding that army forces had put attack helicopters into the skies and were reinforcing their positions.

Army spokesman Col. Delphin Kahimbi confirmed the army was organizing a counteroffensive. He blamed rebels for starting the latest conflict. Rebels could not be reached for comment.

Nkunda's fighters have occupied the southern sector of gorilla-inhabited Virunga National Park for about 12 months, keeping rangers from patrolling the area.

Emmanuel de Merode, who directs Virunga National Park for the Congolese Wildlife Authority, said in a statement that the "latest escalation of the conflict undermines our efforts to resume our work in the gorilla sector."

"It is almost one year to the day since this conflict started, but we are as determined as ever to get back in," Merode said, adding that mortar and grenade explosions have boomed around the park since before dawn. "It is critical that we know the status of the mountain gorillas."

Though sporadic gunfights have broken out in North Kivu province this year, much of the area has been calm since a January peace deal ended a wave of major skirmishes in the same region late last year.

"The fighting has been tied for weeks to the desire to control certain areas of land by one party or another," Dietrich said. Nkunda's rebels "are trying to expand their zone of influence" and the army is trying to stop them, he said.

Congo held its first democratic elections in more than four decades in 2006, and is still coping with the effects of a 1998-2002 war and Rwanda's 1994 genocide, which saw millions of hungry refugees — including Rwandan militias who remain today — spill across the border. Despite its vast mineral wealth, most people remain deeply poor and desperate, and the gorillas in the Virung reserve are competing with local villagers for land.

Nkunda's fighters, believed to have close ties to neighboring Rwanda, first rose up against the government after the broader war ended in 2002. He claims they fight to protect minority Tutsis from Hutus and other groups.

Only about 700 mountain gorillas remain in the world, an estimated 380 of them in a range of volcanoes straddling Congo's borders with Uganda and Rwanda. Only 72 are believed to live on the Congo side of the border. Ten of them were killed last year.

Nkunda's rebels have been accused by wildlife officials of attacking gorillas in the past, but since last year they have taken tourists and some journalists on unauthorized visits to the rare animals.

Virunga National Park is located in a lawless swath of eastern Congo that the country's government has struggled to bring under control for years. Established in 1925 as Africa's first national park, it was classified as a U.N. World Heritage Site in 1979. 

Source: http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/
afrikan-world-news/32861-congo-rebels-army-clash-near-congo-gorilla-park.html
- - -

Copy of Gorilla Protection blog post and photos published by gorilla Thursday August 28, 2008:

War erupts around the Gorilla Sector

Heavy fighting broke out at 3.30am today between rebels and the army around the Gorilla Sector, specifically near the patrol post of Bukima and going down toward Rumangabo park station. The situation had been calm for some months but all this has just changed.

This is Samantha. I was at Rumangabo this morning with Diddy, Innocent, Balemba, Pierre and others and you could hear the mortars being fired not so far away and reverberating through the hills.



This is taken from the main house at Rumangabo station. In the distance (just) you can see 2 buildings - that is a military camp that the rebels are targeting. Beyond the buildings is Sabinyo, a volcano that straddles DRC, Rwanda and Uganda. It is towards the buildings and to the right that the fighting is taking place.

It is not clear who attacked who first - ie the rebels attacked the army first or vice versa. But one thing is for sure, the army is sending in major reinforcements.

When we left Rumangabo heading toward Goma we came across a convoy of military vehicles carrying all kinds of heavy weaponry and soldiers. Weapons are not my area of expertise, but there was definitely a wide array on display of all shapes and sizes - and also something called Stalin’s organ, a weapon with multiple tubes that looks like an organ and presumably fires a rocket from each hole.



This was one of the tanks we passed on our way back.

I just spoke to Diddy and the bombing continues as I write. There is one thing for certain though. If we can hear the bombing and mortars, so can the gorillas. If human populations around this area feel threatened, so do the gorillas. I will keep you up to date.

Source: gorilla.wildlifedirect.org/2008/08/28/
war-erupts-around-the-gorilla-sector/

UN peacekeepers deployed to east DR Congo after Ugandan LRA attacks

Aug 20, 2008 (UN News Centre Africa) report - 'DR Congo: UN peacekeepers deployed to east after rebel attacks' - excerpt:

United Nations peacekeepers and soldiers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been jointly deployed in the eastern provinces of Ituri and Orientale to protect civilians after attacks by the rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

A spokesman for the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC), Michel Bonnardeaux, told a press briefing today that the Ugandan rebel group had attacked and robbed villages around Duru over the past week. He said the Ituri Patriotic Front had also launched sporadic attacks in the Irumu area, and remained a serious threat.

MONUC went on to report further unrest in eastern DRC, including continued regrouping and recruitment by the Mayi-Mayi in North Kivu.

Aid agencies say that eastern DRC continues to be plagued by serious human rights abuses, seven months after the signing of peace accords at the Kivus conference in January.



Photo: MONUC backs DRC campaign to disarm national and foreign armed groups (caption & file photo/UN News Centre)

Full story: UN News Centre - Africa 20/8/08 06:00
www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27768&Cr=monuc&...

[Cross posted today at Uganda Watch http://ugandawatch.blogspot.com]

Last week, south Sudan troops attacked Ugandan LRA terrorists on DR Congo border?

At an African Union summit in Egypt last month, the top US diplomat for Africa warned that Ugandan LRA leader, Joseph Kony, was re-arming.

Source: Aug 24, 2008 Reuters report, copied here below:

Uganda rebels accuse south Sudan of attack

Sun Aug 24 2008 KAMPALA (Reuters South Africa)

A spokesman for Uganda's fugitive northern rebels accused south Sudanese troops of attacking guerrilla positions on Sunday on the Congo border, preventing a peace meeting.

Officials from the South Sudanese Liberation Army (SPLA) could not immediately be reached for comment, and there was no independent confirmation of the clash.

"Sometime last week there was a skirmish after SPLA attacked our positions," David Nyekorach-Matsanga, a spokesman for Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, said by telephone from the south Sudanese capital Juba.

"We thought that was a mistake. But today they repeated it when they attacked LRA at Nabanga."

He gave no other details, but said a planned meeting in the area between LRA representatives and their elusive leader Joseph Kony had been cancelled.

A two-decade civil war in northern Uganda forced 2 million people from their homes and also destabilised neighbouring parts of oil-producing south Sudan and mineral-rich eastern Congo.

Kony is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Two years of peace talks collapsed in April when he failed to appear on the border to sign a final peace deal.

At an African Union summit in Egypt last month, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa warned that the LRA leader was re-arming.

(Reporting by Frank Nyakairu; editing by Daniel Wallis and Tim Pearce)

Source: http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnWAL471739.html
- - -

Map showing Sudan/DR Congo border



Map courtesy Google news/Aug 2008 archive http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com

(Cross posted today at sister sites Uganda Watch http://ugandawatch.blogspot.com
and Sudan Watch http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com)

New Ebola cases seen in DR Congo

Another nine cases of the deadly Ebola virus are confirmed in DR Congo, where 174 have already died. - BBC September 22, 2007. Excerpt:

The World Health Organisation says nine further cases of the deadly Ebola virus have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At least 174 people in the country's West Kasai region have died so far in the current outbreak.

Symptoms of the epidemic - high temperature, bloody diarrhoea and visible haemorrhaging - were first seen in the region on 27 April.

There is no known cure for Ebola, which is fatal in around 80% of cases.

Photo source: www.nlm.nih.gov

Gorilla guardians in DR Congo

For pictures of a park ranger's life in lawless eastern DR Congo, see today's article at BBC News online entitled "Gorilla guardians, Protection".

DRC: militia threaten to kill rare gorillas

May 21 2007 Reuters AlertNet report by Joe Bavier:

KINSHASA, May 21 (Reuters) - Congolese militia are threatening to slaughter rare mountain gorillas in Congo's Virunga National Park after they raided the eastern reserve at the weekend, killing a wildlife officer, officials said.

Up to three more local wildlife workers were injured in the attacks early on Sunday by Mai Mai militia fighters on three conservation and tourism camps in the park, in Democratic Republic of Congo's violence-torn North Kivu province.
Officials in Virunga, Africa's oldest national park established in 1925, said on Monday the attackers looted the three sites, seizing arms and communications equipment.

The area attacked is only two hours walk from a unique and isolated population of gorillas, according to WildlifeDirect, an organisation involved in conservation in Virunga, which is home to half of the 700 mountain gorillas that remain in the world.

"This was an unprovoked attack on our Rangers and other wildlife officers who protect Virunga's wildlife. And the Mai Mai said that if we retaliate, they will kill all the gorillas in this area," Virunga's Park Director Norbert Mushenzi said in a statement distributed by WildlifeDirect.

During the raids, 13 other local wildlife workers were taken hostage by the militia fighters but were subsequently released, WildlifeDirect said.
Despite the end of a 1998-2003 war in Congo and historic elections held last year in the former Belgian colony, renegade militia and rebel groups still operate in the east of the country, raiding villages and terrorising civilians.

Conservationists also accuse the Mai Mai of slaughtering hundreds of hippos with machine guns on the southern shores of Lake Edward in late 2006.

ILLEGAL SQUATTERS

Lunpali Adanbert, communications officer for the World Wildlife Foundation in the provincial capital Goma, told Reuters the wildlife officer killed on Sunday had been gathering data for the WWF from villagers.

Park officials believe the attacks may also have been motivated by a long standing conflict between conservationists and local people living illegally within the Virunga reserve, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Besides mountain gorillas, it is also home to eastern lowland gorillas and chimpanzees.

"The assailants said they would continue this kind of violence, if the local people continue to be chased out of the park," said Benoit Kisuki Mathe, an official with the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation.

The institute said wildlife rangers were tracking the militia and local army units were also being sent to the area.

In January, WildlifeDirect accused rebel fighters loyal to a renegade Congolese army general of butchering two silverback gorillas -- adult males so called because of their grey colouring. But the rebel fighters of General Laurent Nkunda later agreed to stop killing the rare primates.

Richard Leakey, Chairman of WildlifeDirect and credited with ending the slaughter of elephants in Kenya in the 1980s, said that since the beginning of armed conflict in eastern Congo more than 150 wildlife rangers have been killed on active service.

Violence in North Kivu province has been on the rise in recent months due to failing efforts to integrate rebel fighters into the ranks of the national army. Civilians say abuses have increased, often by these "mixed" army units.

Indian Army aviators head for Congo on UN deployment

Mar 5 2007 Malaysia Sun (IANS) report:

Seventy Indian Army aviators leave here Sunday for the Congo for deployment as UN peacekeepers in the country's restive Katanga province on what has been described as a 'dangerous and important' mission.

'You are going on a dangerous and important mission. It is important for you to maintain high standards of discipline and professionalism,' Lt. Gen. K.S. Jamwal, who heads the Indian Army's Kolkata-based Eastern Command, said at the flagging off ceremony of the contingent here Monday.

'It is a matter of pride that you should have been chosen for this challenging assignment,' he added.

Jamwal is the colonel commandant of the Army Aviation Corps to which the 12 officers, six junior commissioned officers, and 52 other ranks of the Congo-bound ninth (Independent) Reconnaissance and Observation Flight belong.

'We have a heavy responsibility on our shoulders. It will be our endeavour to give of our best,' the contingent commander, Lt. Col. G.S. Sheokand, told IANS.

The contingent, which will operate four Cheetah light helicopters, will replace a similar number of personnel who have been serving in the Congo for the last six months. It will be under the command of the 301 Infantry Brigade that also includes three army battalions and an Indian Air Force element of about a dozen Mi-17 and Mi-35 attack helicopters.

'We will be operating in close coordination with the IAF on reconnaissance and observation. We will also serve as the pathfinders for the air force attack helicopters if the situation warrants that they go into action,' Sheokand said of the mission.

Unlike UN peacekeeping operations in other hotspots of the world, the Congo deployment is termed a chapter seven mission under the UN charter. This means the troops are authorised to go into action if the situation so warrants.

The other deployments are termed chapter six missions, meaning that the troops can open fire only in self-defence.

Currently, some 9,000 armed forces personnel serve worldwide under the UN flag. Of them, 8,265, including 26 women, are from the Indian Army, and 500 are from the Indian Air Force.

Of the army troops, 3,707 serve in the Congo, 2,385 in Sudan, 971 in Ethiopia/Eritrea, 835 in Lebanon, and 172 on the Golan Heights. This apart, the army has also deployed 169 officers and observers at different UN missions.

In addition, 125 women troopers of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been deployed in Liberia.

India's involvement in UN peacekeeping operations began in 1950, when a brigade was deployed to enforce an armistice on the Korean peninsula. Since then, India has contributed 85,000 soldiers for 43 missions worldwide, but the current deployment is the largest at any given time.

India is the third largest contributor to UN peacekeeping missions after Bangladesh and Pakistan.

DRC troops jailed for war crimes

Feb 20 2007 BBC report excerpt:

Thirteen soldiers have been jailed for life after the discovery of mass graves in the north-eastern Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A military court found them guilty of killing about 30 civilians found buried in the graves in November last year.

The soldiers who were tried came from the army's First Brigade - one of several made up of fighters from factions who fought in DR Congo's 1998-2003 war.

Note, the report also tells us, in a separate trial in Bunia, four members of the same unit were jailed for life for the murder of two UN military observers in 2003. Two others were given jail terms of 10 and 20 years.

New government formed in DR Congo

A new government has been announced in the Democratic Republic of Congo after last year's landmark elections.

Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga - appointed in December by President Joseph Kabila - has named a cabinet consisting mostly of Kabila supporters.

Former rebel leader Mbusa Nyamwisi gets the foreign ministry, Denis Kalume remains interior minister and Nzanga Mobutu is the new agriculture minister.

Full story BBC 6 Feb 2007.

ICC: Global Court to Rule on Charges For First Trial

Jan 29 2007 Reuters report (via CFD):

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was due to rule on Monday whether there was enough evidence against a Congolese militiaman for recruiting child soldiers to launch the new court's first trial.

Confirming charges against Thomas Lubanga is eagerly anticipated as it would trigger the first trial at the ICC, set up as the first permanent global war crimes court in 2002.

The Coalition for the International Criminal Court, a network of organisations supporting the work of the ICC, said moving towards a trial would be an "historic decision" for the court that is now supported by 104 nations.

The court could also throw out the charges, request further evidence and investigations, or ask prosecutors to consider amending a charge. Some victims' groups want the charges expanded to include crimes such as killings, rape and torture.

The Democratic Republic of Congo -- rich in gold, diamonds and timber -- was the battleground for rebels, local factions, tribes and several neighbouring countries in a 1998-2003 war in which 4 million people died, mainly from hunger and disease.

Prosecutors say Lubanga, the founder and leader of one of the most dangerous militia in Congo's Ituri district, trained children to kill, made them kill and let them be killed.

The 46-year-old, who holds a degree in psychology, has denied the charges. His lawyer has accused the prosecution of withholding information he needs to prepare the defence.

Lubanga is the only suspect to be delivered so far to the court that issued its first arrest warrants in 2005 for leaders of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), who have led a 20-year insurgency that has killed tens of thousands.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo also plans to charge suspects soon for atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region, which the U.N. Security Council asked him to investigate in 2005.

The United States has fiercely opposed the ICC, fearing it would be used for politically-motivated prosecutions of its soldiers and citizens, but its hostility to the court is waning and it abstained when the Security Council voted on Darfur.

Lubanga, leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), an ethnic militia now registered as a political party, is accused of using children to kill members of the Lendu ethnic group.

Ethnic violence in the Ituri region between the Hema and Lendu and clashes between militia groups vying for control of mines and taxation have killed 60,000 people since 1999.

Up to 30,000 children were associated with Congo's armed groups during the height of the war, according to estimates.

The ICC prosecutors' indictment said the children, who often joined the militia because of their desperate need for food or desire to avenge their murdered families, were subject to systematic military training and severe discipline.

DR Congo first stop of UN Secretary General's African tour - BBC

BBC report via Kuna Jan 27 2007:

The United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Saturday began his African tour, aimed at bringing peace to the troubled Sudanese province of Darfur, by arriving to the Congolese capital, Kinshasa.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the UN Secretary's tour, which would take him to Ethiopia and Kenya, would focus on promoting peace in the African continent.

As for choosing Congo as first stop, Ban stated that the African country would act as neutral ground to launch peace talks regarding Darfur, adding that Congo hosts the largest UN peacekeeping force in the world with about 17, 000 soldiers deployed.

The UN official also pointed out that Congo still needed international support to strengthen democracy, revealing that he would discuss this issue with senior officials, namely President Joseph Kabila.

During his visit to Addis Ababa, the UN official will attend the African Union's (AU) summit to be held next Monday and meet with Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.

On his meeting with Al-Bashir, Ban pointed out that it was not scheduled on his tour agenda but stated that he would use seize the chance to express his deepest concern concerning the Darfur crisis.

He indicated that he would demand Al-Bashir reveal his intentions and stance vis a vis the idea of a UN-AU peacekeeping force, following initial reports that the Sudanese President approval of such a plan in principle.

DR Congo leader issues ultimatum

Nov 23 2006 BBC report says the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, has given the forces of his presidential rival 48 hours to leave Kinshasa.

Mr Kabila has been declared the provisional winner of recent polls.

However, his rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has complained of fraud. The Supreme Court is to rule on the claims shortly.

DR Congo court burnt in poll protest

Nov 21 2006 BBC report Congo court burnt in poll protest - excerpt:

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Supreme Court has been set on fire during protests over alleged fraud in the presidential run-off.
Supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the ex-rebel leader who says he was cheated of victory, clashed with police.

Police used tear gas and UN peacekeepers fired shots in the air, with two vehicles burnt by protesters.

The violence led the Supreme Court to suspend its hearing into Mr Bemba's claims he was cheated of victory.

Mr Bemba's party has condemned what it called "acts of vandalism" against the court, and said it would have no reason to try to derail court proceedings.

President Joseph Kabila was last week declared the winner, with 58% of the vote against 42% for Mr Bemba.

The elections are supposed to draw a line under a five-year conflict in which some four million people died.

European military to reinforce DRC presence

Oct 19 2006 Sapa-AFP report via IOL

Kinsasha - A European Union military force deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ahead of landmark elections will augment its number to almost 1 500 men at the weekend, it announced on Thursday.

EUFOR spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Thierry Fusalba said 200 Dutch and German soldiers currently based in Gabon will fly to the DRC capital Kinshasa between on Friday and the start of next week.

"This doesn't mean EUFOR has received intelligence leading to fear of trouble," Fusalba said. "It's a precautionary measure to be sure we're ready for anything."

Voters in the huge central African country will go to the polls on October 29 for the last round of a presidential election in which the incumbent Joseph Kabila faces a strong challenge from former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba. The poll is the culmination of a difficult transition to democracy.

Violent confrontations between Kabila and Bemba supporters have taken place daily, leaving at least half a dozen people injured, in different towns across the nation since the final part of the campaign began last weekend.

The EUFOR operation currently consists of about 1 200 troops in Kinshasa and a standby force of roughly the same number in Gabon. They were deployed with a UN mandate to keep the peace in the capital, easing the burden of the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC).

EUFOR troops did intervene in Kinshasa when heavy fighting erupted between armed supporters of Kabila and Bemba on August 21 in the capital after results of the first round were issued.

Those clashes claimed 23 lives and German reinforcements were flown in from Gabon, but they took 24 hours and Fusalba said that operation was too long. The extra troops were coming to "shorten the delay in intervention".

The MONUC force is the largest UN mission in the world and includes 17 600 troops, 80 percent of whom are now deployed in the more volatile east of the DRC, where mobile operational bases have been reinforced.

MONUC has been monitoring and supporting a drawn-out peace process in the country since before it emerged in 2003 from the last of successive conflicts. The 1998-2003 war drew in the armies of more than half a dozen countries and directly or indirectly claimed more than three million lives.

DRC: More money needed for displaced persons, Egeland says

IRIN Interview 8 Sep 2006.