Democratic Republic of Congo - The African Mirror

Feb

2021

Suspected Islamists kill 10 villagers in eastern Congo

ATTACKERS killed around 10 people in an overnight raid on a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities and the army said yesterday, blaming fighters from a Ugandan Islamist armed group. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan armed group active in eastern Congo since the 1990s, has committed a succession of brutal reprisal attacks against civilians since the army began an operation against it in late 2019. The group killed around 850 people last year, according to U.N. figures. "So far a provisional assessment is of about ten people killed. It is attributed to the Islamist ADF…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Congo senators move to oust Kabila ally

NEWS

HEREWARD HOLLAND A majority of senators in the Democratic Republic of Congo filed a petition to oust the leader of the upper house of parliament on Tuesday, the latest move by allies of President Felix Tshisekedi to weaken his predecessor's lingering power. In recent months, Tshisekedi has chipped away at the influence of former President Joseph Kabila, with whom he had an awkward political alliance following a disputed 2018 election. A longtime opponent of Kabila, who governed from 2001-2019, Tshisekedi won office by beating Kabila's chosen successor in a vote observers said another opposition candidate had won. However, the new…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Militant killings more than doubled in Congo in 2020, UN says

NEWS

KILLINGS by armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo more than doubled last year, the United Nations has said, underlining spiralling violence in the country's east two years after Felix Tshisekedi became president. The U.N. Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) said militias executed at least 2,487 civilians in 2020, up from 1,029 the previous year. Fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan Islamist armed group, were responsible for a third of the deaths, which included the killing of more than 200 women and 26 children in the restive provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, it said. "These…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Democratic Republic of Congo resumes making passports after hiatus

NEWS

DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo is resuming passport production, according to a government decree which came after a five-month hiatus following allegations of money laundering and corruption by Brussels-based manufacturer Semlex. In May, a senior Congolese official told Reuters the government would not renew its contract with Semlex, which made biometric passports for Congo in a deal agreed under former President Joseph Kabila that expired on June 11. The winner of a subsequent tender has not been announced, but the decree, signed by the Congolese foreign and finance ministers on November 10, details new passport costs and delivery times for citizens.…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Inside Story: How we broke the Ebola sexual abuse scandal

HUMAN RIGHTS

PAISLEY DODDS EARLY last year during a trip to the Ebola outbreak zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we were tipped off that aid workers might be sexually abusing and exploiting women. “Oh, they love our ladies,” reporter Robert Flummerfelt was told in March 2019 at a bar in Butembo, one of two hubs for workers trying to contain the virus in Congo’s northeast. “They arrive in military convoys to take the sick for treatment, and they are always taking the women.” Even though the practice seemed well known, we were warned few women would talk. “The victims of…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

WHO ‘outraged’ by sex abuse reports in Congo Ebola operation

NEWS

EMMA FARGE THE World Health Organization (WHO) has promised an investigation into "horrific" allegations of sexual abuse by aid workers combating an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "To be very clear, we are outraged to read these reports," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news briefing in Geneva, promising punishment for perpetrators. "We will not tolerate behaviour like this from our staff, contractors or partners." The Thomson Reuters Foundation reported on Tuesday that more than 50 women had accused aid workers from the WHO and leading charities of sexual exploitation and abuse. Anyone found involved…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Faction of DR Congo rebel group surrenders after internal revolt

NEWS

ALMOST 500 fighters from a faction of one the largest armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have surrendered to the government just over a month after they attempted to overthrow the group's leader. Soldiers from the NDC-R, a rebel group seen as having close ties with the national army, sang and danced before handing over an assortment of small arms at a ceremony on Monday in the village of Kashuga, about 75 km (46 miles) north of Goma. Fighting has raged between two groups of the NDC-R since July 9 when a section loyal to deputy leader Gilbert…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Congo replaces sanctioned army chief with deputy

NEWS

DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has appointed a new head of the army to replace General John Numbi, according to state television. Both Numbi and his designated successor, General Gabriel Amisi Kumba, are under U.S. and European Union sanctions for repression and abuses directed against opposition figures and protesters under former president Joseph Kabila. Tshisekedi's office did not give a reason for the reshuffle. The last month has seen rising tensions in the ruling coalition between supporters of Tshisekedi and those of Kabila, who maintains extensive power through his parliamentary majority, control of most cabinet ministries, and influence…