With the recent loss of 12 South African troops in the Central African Republic and the US bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq, the extent to which an African peace keeping mission will meet a similar fate seems likely

Brutal crimes of violence against women and girls have massively increased and become pervasive in the country.

The agreement signed in Addis Ababa last month enjoining states in the region in the search for lasting peace in DRC is a welcome move. But there are powerful external players who want the instability to continue.

In a decision that represents the end of any judicial relief in Canada for victims of the Kilwa massacre, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the application for leave to appeal brought in the case against Anvil Mining by The Canadian Association against Impunity (CAAI), an organization representing survivors and families of victims of the 2004 Kilwa massacre. The CAAI expressed its profound disappointment with the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case. 'It is unacceptable that in 2012, victims are still unable to hold Canadian companies accountable in Canadian courts, for their alleged involvement in serious human rights violations committed abroad. We look forward to a time when Canadian companies are held responsible for their actions,' said Matt Eisenbrandt, a member of the Board of Directors of the CAAI.

More than one in three men surveyed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's war-torn east admits committing sexual assault, and three in four believe that a woman who 'does not dress decently is asking to be raped', researchers have found. The study was carried out by the South African-based Sonke Gender Justice Network and the Brazilian non-government organisation Promundo in and near Goma in Congo's North Kivu province.

A women's group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo urged authorities Monday to guarantee the safety of a doctor who founded a rape victims clinic but fled the country after an attempt on his life. Denis Mukwege, an award-winning gynaecologist, narrowly escaped being killed along with two of his daughters on October 25 after armed men broke into his home in Bukavu. The assailants killed an employee who intervened, giving the doctor and his family time to flee.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has the highest rate of malnutrition in central and west Africa, affecting 43 percent of children under five, UNICEF said. In central Africa, 'some countries have a rate of chronic malnutrition which is still alarming,' Marianne Flach, the representative of the UN children's agency in Congo, said at the opening of a regional workshop on reducing malnutrition. At least 75 experts from different countries in central Africa came to take part in the workshop, which will continue until Thursday in a northern suburb of Brazzaville.

Hanging from the door of a mini-bus taxi as it jerks and jinks through traffic, 16-year-old Gires Manoka calls out the van’s destination to potential passengers as it crosses Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. One pedestrian asks the fresh-faced teen if he shouldn’t be in school instead of working. 'I was in grade seven last year,' Manoka replies, 'but I had no one to pay my school fees. I got no choice but to hustle; this work keeps my family alive.'

An award-winning doctor, renowned for his work for women who have suffered sexual violence, was 'evacuated' from a town in eastern DR Congo a close aide told AFP. Gynaecologist Denis Mukwege's whereabouts were not immediately known. Rights activists have called on the DR Congo government to protect the doctor.

Government troops and unidentified rebel forces clashed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Sunday, military officials said. Heavy weapons fire could be heard after 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) at Sake in North Kivu region, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of the city of Goma, officials and residents said. A regional military official confirmed the fighting to AFP but could not identify the rebels.

Gold is now the primary source of income for armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and is ending up in jewelry stores across the world, according to a report published on Thursday by the Enough Project.

An Ebola outbreak that has killed several people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) appears to be slowing down, but health workers say there is a need for continued vigilance in order to contain the virus. 'Their last confirmed case was admitted in the MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières]/Ministry of Health Ebola ward on October 10, after two weeks with no confirmed cases,' Olimpia de la Rosa, MSF medical emergency coordinator, told IRIN in an email. 'The decrease in the number of admissions in our facility makes us think that we are on the way to contain the outbreak, but containment efforts must continue until no cases are confirmed for at least 21 days.'

President Francois Hollande looks set to make African leaders sweat at a gathering of French-speaking nations in Democratic Republic of Congo this week, when he attempts to cut murky ties with France's former colonies. Hollande has vowed to promote democracy in a continent known for flawed elections and 'sit-tight' leaders, and, unlike his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, he will travel to Africa without any company executives, something that would 'muddy the waters', one adviser said.

In May 2012, Olam International announced a REDD project for 'sustainable forest management' in the Republic of Congo. The project is a public-private partnership between Olam International’s subsidiary CIB (Congolaise Industrielle des Bois) and the Government of the Republic of Congo. The little information that is available about this proposed REDD project sets off just about all the REDD alarm bells, says this post from Olam International is notorious for its involvement in illegal logging in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2007, the World Bank’s private sector arm the International Finance Corporation sold its shares in Olam International. Greenpeace described Olam International as a 'Congo-trashing company'.

Since Bosco Ntaganda’s mutiny in April 2012 and the creation of the 23 March rebel movement (M23), violence has returned to the Kivus. This crisis shows that today’s problems are the same as yesterday’s because the 2008 framework for resolution of the conflict has yet to be put in place, says this briefing from the International Crisis Group. Instead of implementing the 23 March 2009 agreement between the government and the CNDP (National Council for the Defence of the People), the Congolese authorities pretended to integrate the CNDP into political institutions, while the rebel group pretended to integrate into the Congolese army.

An outbreak of Ebola fever in the Democratic Republic of Congo may have killed up to 36 people, out of 81 suspected cases, according to a new death toll released by the health ministry. The ministry said that 20 confirmed cases have been recorded, as well as 32 likely and 29 suspected as of 29 September.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has joined the Central African Press Union (USYPAC in French) to call on DRC President Joseph Kabila to grant presidential pardon for three journalists in prison. 'We call on authorities in DRC to release our three colleagues arrested after being accused of collaboration with the armed guerillas movements. Their place is not definitely in prisons. Their release would be a great act of press freedom promotion,' said Gabriel Baglo, IFJ Africa Director.

In this Peace and Conflict Monitor article, a researcher back from a trip to the Congo, shares her observations about the darker side of the peace industry in Kivu province. In a region where sexual violence is a prominent and ongoing issue, she provides a glimpse of how the UN Peacekeeping forces fuel a thriving underground sex industry.

Children in the Kivu provinces of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are not only getting caught in the crossfire of the area’s ongoing violence, but also facing health risks, threats of forced recruitment by local and foreign militias, and interrupted education, say officials. 'Children are swept up in the mass population movements that are currently ongoing in eastern DRC, with entire families fleeing multiple conflicts. Our hospitals have operated on children with bullet wounds who have been caught in the crossfire. Some children present late with life-threatening malaria, malnutrition or respiratory tract infections,' Jan-Peter Stellema, operations manager at Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), told IRIN.

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) say they are trying to arrange for the assembly and disarmament of rival ethnic militias implicated in the massacres of hundreds of people in Masisi territory in the eastern province of North Kivu. Congolese army spokesman Lt-Col Olivier Hamuli told IRIN that following a visit to Masisi in September, the commander of the DRC's land forces, Gen Amisi Tango Fort, called on the militias to ‘regroup’ and disarm. Regrouping refers to the assembly of combatants in specific locations where they can be monitored prior to disarmament.