DR Congo jails former anti graft chief for life over rebellion

BUKAVU, Democratic Republic of Congo - The former anti-corruption chief fighting fraud in DR Congo's lucrative eastern mines has been jailed for life by a military court on charges of rebellion and murder, judicial sources told AFP.

Abbas Kayonga was arrested by UN peacekeepers in the eastern city of Bukavu on November 5 just days after his dismissal for "grave negligence".

Efforts by Congolese troops to arrest him had sparked deadly clashes with his bodyguards, which left six people dead before the UN troops intervened.

He appeared at military court in Bukavu a day later alongside around 30 others, on charges of rebellion.

In a verdict reached Tuesday, the court sentenced him and 13 others to death, with the military prosecutor ordering them transferred to Kinshasa and ruling out any chance of appeal.

https://www.enca.com/africa/dr-congo-jails-former-anti-graft-chief-for-life-over-rebellion

Humanitarian Crisis Deepens in DR Congo As President Kabila Clings to Power

A UN report earlier this month found some 13 million Congolese in need of humanitarian aid - twice as many as last year - and 7.7 million are facing severe food insecurity, which is an increase of 30 percent over 2017.

The crisis is further exacerbated by what appears to be the government's state of denial about the deepening crisis. Kinshasa is refusing to attend an international donor conference scheduled for April in Geneva that seeks to put together a $1.7 billion (1.4 billion euros) aid package.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201803260562.html

Rebels attack Kabila's residence in eastern DRC, deaths reported

Armed rebels killed at least one soldier during an attack on a house owned by Congo President Joseph Kabila in the restive east where a number of conflicts have flared in recent months, rebel and Congo military sources said on Thursday.

Kabila was not present when Mai-Mai militiamen attacked the house near the town of Beni and clashed with state soldiers, who were able to fend off the attack.

The second assault on a presidential residence in three months points to a deteriorating security situation in Congo stoked in part by Kabila’s refusal to step down in 2016 when his mandate expired.

http://www.africanews.com/2018/03/30/rebels-attack-kabila-s-residence-in-eastern-drc-deaths-reported/

Eight in ten Congolese disapprove of President Kabila: poll

Eight in ten Congolese have an unfavorable opinion of President Joseph Kabila - but nearly seven in ten don't think the December vote to replace him will be fair, according to a national poll published on Friday.

The survey, conducted last month by the Congo Research Group at New York University and Congolese polling firm BERCI, gives a rare glimpse into the national mood as Congolese wait to see if Kabila finally steps down after 17 years in power.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-congo-politics/eight-in-ten-congolese-disapprove-of-president-kabila-poll-idUSKBN1H610I

DR Congo main opposition to be led by founder's son

The Democratic Republic of Congo's main opposition party on Saturday chose the son of its founder as its leader and presidential candidate in long delayed polls due at the end of the year.

The Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) said Felix Tshisekedi, son of former premier Etienne Tshisekedi who died in Brussels in February last year, will "be its presidential candidate", after a night-long meeting in the capital Kinshasa.
Tshisekedi, 54, was also chosen to lead the party with an overwhelming majority, securing 790 of the 803 votes.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/World/DR-Congo-main-opposition-led-founders-son/688340-4367064-p25x9m/index.html

S Korea distances itself from firm assisting DRC vote

South Korea's government has officially distanced itself from a firm providing electronic voting machines to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where tensions are running high ahead of a presidential poll in December.

In an email sent to AFP on Tuesday, the South Korean embassy in Kinshasa spelt out what it called the government's "official position," expressing concern the contract could become embroiled in DRC's political crisis.

Use of the machines "could give the Congolese government a pretext for undesirable results related to the elections, notably a further delay in holding the elections," said the statement, in French.

https://m.news24.com/Africa/News/s-korea-distances-itself-from-firm-assisting-drc-vote-20180403

CONGO OPPOSITION LEADER KATUMBI ‘HELD ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR 16 YEARS’

ROME - Congolese opposition leader Moise Katumbi held Italian citizenship from October 2000 until January 2017, the Italian town where he was a resident said on Wednesday, jeopardising his hopes of contesting a presidential election later this year.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s attorney general said last week he had opened an investigation into allegations about Katumbi’s Italian nationality, first reported by Paris-based magazine Jeune Afrique.

Under Congo’s constitution, its nationals cannot hold dual citizenship and must petition the government to regain their citizenship if they take up a foreign nationality.

The provision, however, is laxly enforced and many prominent politicians are believed to have second citizenships.

http://ewn.co.za/2018/04/04/congo-opposition-leader-katumbi-held-italian-citizenship-for-16-years

Politics and oil: the unseen drivers of violence in Congo’s Ituri Province

A recent wave of targeted attacks has left a trail of death, destruction, and mass displacement in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeastern province of Ituri.

The roots of the violence are framed in media reports as ethnic, but analysts and local observers say powerful political and commercial interests are what is really driving and exploiting the inter-communal tensions.

Between 1999 and 2004, some 50,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Ituri in fighting between different communities, sometimes backed by Uganda and Rwanda (see our In-Depth coverage). After more than a decade of relative peace, violence flared again in December and resumed in February on an even larger scale. More than 300,000 people have been displaced and thousands of homes torched in at least 70 villages, according to ACAPS, an independent humanitarian information service.

http://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2018/04/04/politics-and-oil-unseen-drivers-violence-congo-s-ituri-province

DR Congo kidnappers release priest, kill 3 other people

Father Celestin Ngango was taken away by armed men on Sunday shortly after he had celebrated Easter mass in his parish, in the dioceses of Goma in North Kivu province.

His abductors demanded $500,000 (407,000 euros), the Catholic Church said on Tuesday.

“We have just secured the release of Father Ngango after long negotiations with the kidnappers,” Father Louis de Gonzague Nzabanita, the vicar general (deputy to the bishop) of Goma dioceses, told AFP on Friday.

https://www.independent.co.ug/dr-congo-kidnappers-release-priest-kill-3-other-people/

Six Virunga park rangers killed in DRC wildlife sanctuary

Five rangers and a driver were killed in an ambush in Virunga national park in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Monday.

A sixth ranger was injured in the attack that took place in the central section of the vast reserve, known globally for its population of rare mountain gorillas.

The loss of life was the worst in the history of the national park, where more than 170 rangers have died protecting animals over the last 20 years.

https://www.theguardian.com/weather/2018/apr/09/six-virunga-park-rangers-killed-in-drc-wildlife-sanctuary

Congolese Youth Face Repression For Speaking Up

Young activists, who are in the forefront of challenging the Joseph Kabila regime, have been subjected to indefinite detention.

Christian Lumu Lukusa and James Katshingu were kidnapped by the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kinshasa on November 22, 2017. They have been in military detention ever since. The two are leaders of the Youth League of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (known by its French acronym UDPS) – a major political party opposing Joseph Kabila’s brutal regime – and played a vital role in mobilising the Congolese youth to struggle against the harsh conditions plaguing their everyday lives.

“A lot of young people are in jail. This is not just about Christian or James. This is about the systematic, arbitrary arrests of people in order to silence dissent,” said Kambale Musavuli, spokesperson of Friends of the Congo, an advocacy organisation.

Last year, Sephora Astride Biduaya, another UDPS youth leader, was held in military detention for over six months without charges or trial. Her struggle to receive medical attention was known to the outside world only due to the work done by Christian, who was working as a communications officer with the UDPS.

https://newsclick.in/congolese-youth-face-repression-speaking

In Congo, Rwandan Hutus in limbo as refugee status evaporates

"They are telling me to go. Go where? What would I do back there? Everyone's dead," says Gilbert Bigirimana, an 18-year-old Rwandan living in Republic of Congo who has never set foot on Rwandan soil.

Bigirimana is among thousands of Rwandans who, a generation after the Rwandan genocide, are living in a void, adrift in their host country and fearful of returning home.

Most of those in limbo are Hutus, who fled the country after leaders of their ethnic group orchestrated the mass slaughter of minority Tutsis before being ousted by a Tutsi-backed campaign.

Many first headed to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/World/Congo-Rwandan-Hutus-limbo-refugee-status-evaporates/688340-4389098-qsyrqc/index.html

Congo is a failed state

Can Southern Africa save the DRC?

Most of the levers of power have been pulled, and still Kabila sits pretty in Kinshasa, even as the country burns around him.

‘Young man, retire’

There is one lever left, however; one last power broker yet to come out against Kabila. This is the Southern African region, which has been characteristically silent as the political crisis in the DRC has worsened, and especially the region’s dominant power, South Africa, which maintains a large peacekeeping contingent there.

“There is a dynamic in international relations where we see the West coming up with pressure and imposing conditions, but then the Southern African Development Community [SADC] will be a little shy, out of some kind of solidarity that we fail to understand,” said Denis Kadima, executive director of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa.

This was especially true under former president Jacob Zuma, who enjoyed a close personal relationship with Kabila.

“We have also heard about president Zuma having interests through his relatives in the DRC,” said Kadima.

Zuma’s nephew Khulubuse Zuma owns valuable DRC mining concessions.

“We are hoping that a new initiative will not be motivated by personal gain but by what is best for Congo’s stability,” Kadima added.

With Zuma gone, Congolese opposition leaders and civil society activists are now hoping that his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, will be a little less shy; that he might emulate the energetic involvement of former president Thabo Mbeki, who helped to broker the 2002 Sun City agreement, where a deal was signed between some of the warring factions as part of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue after four years of the Second Congolese War.

“South Africa can play a big role ... Right now with the new dawn [being] pushed by President Ramaphosa, we feel that it’s a new opportunity,” said Sylvain Saluseke of Lutte pour le Changement, a Congolese youth movement. “Not only do we know that South Africa can do something [for us], but South Africa itself knows that it could depend on the DRC for economic expansion.”

Saluseke wants Ramaphosa, who is also the SADC chairperson, to encourage Kabila to organise credible elections, and then step aside. “Ramaphosa must just tell him, young man, go well in your retirement.”

https://mg.co.za/article/2018-04-13-00-can-southern-africa-save-the-drc

Omololu2121:
Congo is a failed state

THEY GIVE THIEVES BAD NAMES

its one thing to be a thief but its another one to be a thief and waste all the money

Congo presidential hopeful rejects any deal with Kabila

Congolese opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi rejected suggestions that he might do a deal with President Joseph Kabila, at a rally which passed off peacefully on Tuesday.

Tshisekedi is one of two main figures expected to seek to run in a delayed election scheduled for December. Exiled businessman Moise Katumbi is the other.

Tshisekedi dismissed speculation he might accept the post of prime minister, something Kabila has offered in the past to appease opponents.

"There is nothing like any dialogue for a prime ministerial post," Tshisekedi told the cheering crowd.

"The (party) elected me to be presidential candidate, so how can I be lowered to prime minister? Rather, let me be led to the final victory in the presidential election."

Kabila's opposition is weak and divided. Many opposition politicians joined a power-sharing government after the death of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, Felix's father, last year.

Dozens have died in protests, most shot dead by security forces, since Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate in December 2016. But Tuesday's rally was unusual in that it was permitted, watched closely by armed police.

Popular anger could easily boil over if elections are delayed again or are not perceived to be fair. In addition, several parts of the country are dealing with armed rebellions.

Donors have expressed concern about plans to use new electronic voting machines, saying the system is untested and could allow fraud. Congo's government reacted by saying it would reject foreign aid for the poll.

"Their machine is a machine to cheat. The electoral register is corrupt and merits a serious audit," Tshisekedi said.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-congo-politics/congo-presidential-hopeful-rejects-any-deal-with-kabila-idUKKBN1HV2ND

Dozens drown fleeing violence in northwest DR Congo

Forty civilians drowned when their boats capsized on a storm-swollen river as they fled fighting in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo, a senior local official said Friday.

"As of Wednesday night, we recovered the bodies of 40 people" after their boats capsized, Jean Bakatoye, vice governor of South Ubangi province, told AFP.

"The toll is still provisional as other bodies were swept downstream," he said.

The civilians were trying to cross the Ubangi River, which marks part of the border with the neighbouring Republic of Congo.

They were trying to escape fighting involving DR Congo troops and "outlaws," Bakatoye said.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/World/Dozens-drown-fleeing-violence-northwest-DR-Congo/688340-4533674-7j1sfmz/index.html

DR Congo planning to allow oil exploration in national parks: NGO Global Witness

Democratic Republic of Congo's government is seeking to reclassify swathes of two UNESCO-listed parks so that oil exploration can be carried out there, an investigative group said.

The London-based NGO Global Witness said it had seen documents about a scheme to "redraw the boundaries" of the fabled Salonga and Virunga national parks, home to many of the planet's endangered species.

The move would remove protected status from areas for which oil licences have been awarded, thus enabling exploration there to go ahead, it said on Thursday.

A special commission of ministers and DRC civil servants met on April 27 to push through the plan, it said.

The group said documents signed by DRC's oil minister, Aime Ngoi Muken, set out the legal framework for changing the areas' status.

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/africa/2018-05-04-dr-congo-planning-to-allow-oil-exploration-in-national-parks-ngo/

Two British citizens kidnapped in DR Congo

ITV News understands that the pair, a man and woman, have been taken while visiting the Virunga National Park, a renowned gorilla sanctuary in the east of the African country, on Friday.

According to local media, a female park ranger travelling with the tourists was killed and a female member of staff from the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (CINC) was injured.

http://www.itv.com/news/2018-05-11/two-british-citizens-reportedly-kidnapped-in-dr-congo/

Two Britons held hostage in Democratic Republic of Congo freed

Two British men and a local driver who were taken hostage on Friday in one of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s national parks have been released.

The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, paid tribute to the DRC authorities and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation for their help in securing the release.

A park ranger, Rachel Makissa Baraka, who was travelling with the pair, was fatally injured when the men and their Congolese driver were seized during a visit to the Virunga national park, a renowned gorilla sanctuary in the east of the African country.

A number of kidnappings have taken place during the past six weeks in the park, which is home to about one-quarter of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas. They come against the backdrop of rising violence across the province of North Kivu.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/13/two-britons-held-hostage-in-democratic-republic-of-congo-freed

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