The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) is on the defensive since the NGO International Medical Corps revealed early this week that rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and members of a local Mai Mai militia, raped at least 154 women in North Kivu, a few kilometers from a MONUSCO base.

Rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) have been reported in the North Kivu region of Walikale, where they are, once again, conducting a terror campaign against the local population.

The commander in chief of the Ugandan rebel ADF/NALU, colonel Katodo, was killed by the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) during operation Ruwenzori in North Kivu Province, Information Minister and government spokesman Lambert Mende said on Tuesday at a press conference in Kinshasa.

Radio France Internationale (RFI) a rapporté dans son émission Afrique Midi du mardi 1 juin 2010 que le président Joseph Kabila aurait menacé de mort trois ministres de la majorité présidentielle (AMP), lors d’une réunion avec les sénateurs, députés, ministres et autres membres de l’AMP tenue le samedi passé sur sa ferme de Kingakati. Selon la journaliste Ghislaine Dupont, « les trois ministres promoteurs d’un courant baptisé Centre Libéral et Patriotique ont été sévèrement sermonnés et accusés de fomenter la rébellion au sein de la majorité présidentielle. ‘On me rapporte que vous voulez faire comme à Madagascar, un coup d’état’, [...]

L’ONG des droits de l’homme Human Rights Watch vient de publier un rapport sur des massacres qu’auraient commis les rebelles ougandais de l’Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA) dans la Province Orientale, au Nord-est de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC), entre le 14 et 17 décembre 2009. Selon Human Rights Watch, la LRA a tué au moins 321 civiles et enlevé 250 autres personnes, dont au moins 80 enfants. Anneke Van Woudenberg, chercheuse principale pour la division Afrique à Human Rights Watch dit dans ce rapport que “ces quatre jours d’atrocités démontrent que la LRA reste une menace grave pour les [...]

The U.S. military command for Africa (Africom) has started training 1,000 Congolese troops in the eastern city of Kisangani. The $30 million training program is expected to last eight months.

The Security Council extended on Wednesday MONUC’s mandate in the Democratic republic of Congo until May 31, 2010. The 15 members of the UN body unanimously adopted resolution 1906 calling on peacekeepers to “use all necessary measures” to protect civilians.

A report by a group of experts, mandated by the United Nations Security Council to investigate on the situation in eastern Congo, has found that a vast international network that spans more than 25 countries is helping the Rwandan Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) continue their atrocities in the region.

Four days after Congo Government spokesman Lambert Mende lambasted Human Rights Watch about what he called “exaggerated” allegations on the situation in eastern Congo and the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) military operation (Kimia II) against the Rwandan Hutu militia FDLR, the NGO responded with new allegations against the FARDC and their Rwandan Defense Force (RDF) allies in another operation (Umoja Wetu) earlier this year against the FDLR.

During a press conference on Thursday in Kinshasa, Government spokesman Lambert Mende blasted what he called an “avalanche of corrosive reports being poured lately” by NGOs about the situation in eastern Congo.