A report by a group of experts monitoring UN sanctions on the Democratic Republic of Congo has implicated former CNDP soldiers, now part of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC), in the illegal exploitation of mineral resources in eastern Congo.

President Joseph Kabila announced on Thursday night that he was suspending all mining operations around Walikale, North Kivu province, during a speech at a banquet in Goma attended by local authorities and representatives of the civil society.

The head of the National Conference of Bishops (CENCO), Bishop Nicolas Djomo, said during a press conference in Kinshasa on Monday that the Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo is determined to campaign for the recently enacted U.S. law on ‘conflict minerals’, so that it is applied in the DRC.