On Sunday, the Ecumenical Program for Peace, Conflict Transformation and Reconciliation (PAREC) convinced 54 rebels of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and fifty of their dependents to disarm.

Le Conseil de Sécurité de l’ONU a annulé sa visite en République démocratique du Congo vendredi à cause des nuages de cendres causés par l’éruption d’un volcan en Islande qui perturbent le trafic aérien en Europe depuis jeudi. La délégation du Conseil de Sécurité devait faire escale à Paris avant de se diriger vers Kinshasa où elle devait discuter avec les autorités congolaises de la situation sécuritaire du pays et du retrait de la force de maintien de la paix des Nations Unies au Congo (MONUC). Cette visite, qui auparavant devait aussi conduire la délégation au Rwanda et en Ouganda, [...]

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.

There were no surprises at the Palais du Peuple on Saturday morning as elections results revealed that Evariste Boshab, from President Joseph Kabila’s People’s Party for Reconstruction and Development (PPRD), had come ahead as the new speaker of the lower house of Parliament in polls held on Friday to replace its former officers.

Warlord Laurent Nkunda, the eastern Congo rebel leader accused of numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity, has been arrested in Rwanda while fleeing a joint Congolese-Rwandan military operation to arrest him.

A United Nations panel of experts has once again accused Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and his government of supporting warlord Laurent Nkunda in his years-long killing spree in eastern Congo.

As if more evidence was needed to prove that Laurent Nkunda is a war criminal, this week we had more reports that civilians had been targeted for summary executions after Laurent Nkunda’s rebels attacked and occupied the town of Kiwanja in North Kivu province.

According to the International Rescue Committee, more than5,400,000 Congolese civilians have died due to war during the last ten years. Most of these deaths have occurred in eastern Congo where rebel leader Laurent Nkunda continues to wage a resources war against a democratically elected and internationally recognized government. Laurent Nkunda alleges that he is protecting the minority Tutsi ethnic group against remnants of the Rwandan Hutu army that fled to Congo after the Rwandan genocide in 1994.