Local authorities in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are reporting that almost 90,000 people have been uprooted from their homes following recent military operations in the region, the United Nations humanitarian arm said. At least six civilians have died and dozens of others have been injured in the fighting between the national army, or FARDC, and fighters associated with the Ugandan rebel group known as the Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU) in the Beni territory in North Kivu province

Fifty years ago, the former Belgian Congo received its independence under the democratically elected government of former prime minister Patrice Lumumba. Less than seven months later, Lumumba and two colleagues were, in the contemporary idiom, "rendered" to their Belgian-backed secessionist enemies, who tortured them before putting them before a firing squad. The Congo would not hold another democratic election for 46 years. In 2002, following an extensive parliamentary inquiry, the Belgian government assumed a portion of responsibility for Lumumba's murder.

Following an extensive parliamentary inquiry in 2002, the Belgian government assumed a portion of responsibility for the murder of Patrice Lumumba, writes Stephen R. Weissman. But ‘controversy has continued to swirl over allegations of US government responsibility’, despite a 1975 investigation concluding that it was not ‘in anyway involved in the killing’. ‘It is now clear,’ writes Weissman, ‘that conclusion was wrong.’

It is a sunny day at the Mashango primary school in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) North Kivu Province. That is good news for teacher Dusaba Mbomoya who is holding a geography exam under a roof filled with holes in a classroom where flapping pieces of plastic do duty as walls. Even the blackboard has holes large enough for students to peer through. When it rains we allow the pupils to go back to their houses,” said Mbomoya. Those who want to wait out the rain at school sometimes shelter in newly-constructed latrines put in by an international organization.

Thomas Lubanga, a former Congolese rebel leader, will remain in jail in The Hague after the appeals panel of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said it feared he might not reappear if another trial is ordered. Judges at the ICC ordered Lubanga's trial halted on July 8, saying that Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the court's chief prosecutor, had not complied with an order to turn over certain information to his defence.

High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres has been in Kinshasa as part of a three-day visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo to draw attention to the plight of Congo's displaced people and the need to ensure humanitarian access to them. Guterres who travelled to Equateur province in western DRC, said that his agency was getting ready to re-establish a presence in the region to help the internally displaced as well as prepare for the return of refugees.

Mining firm Randgold Resources says it is to begin mining Africa's largest undeveloped gold deposit - in eastern DR Congo. The mine will require the re-location of 15,000 people, but Randgold says the project has the support of the government and the local community. The mine is thought to have a reserve of about 320 tonnes of gold, it says.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/491/maurice_namwira.jpgSome five years after the assassination of Pascal Kabungulu, formerly secretary general of DRC human rights group Héritiers de la Justice, Maurice Namwira, the organisation’s executive secretary, discusses activism, impunity from justice and Héritier’s work with Christian Aid with Emma Pomfret.

Josephine is just one of the more than 250,000 people who have been forced to flee their homes in this isolated and chaotic corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The reason for her flight – and that of many others – is one of the world's most ruthless armed militias, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) which is infamous for its attacks on civilians. Thirty-five year old Josephine arrived at the Li-nakofu site for internally displaced person (IDPs) following an LRA attack on her village.

Civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are facing an increased risk of rape and forced labour as a result of internationally backed military operations against rebel groups, according to a new report by aid agency Oxfam. The survey of people living in north and south Kivu provinces in eastern Congo found 75 per cent of women felt in more danger than a year ago. This rose to 99 per cent in the parts of south Kivu, which is at the centre of a UN-supported offensive by the Congolese army against the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) and other rebel groups.

The International Criminal Court ruled Thursday that Congolese militia chief Thomas Lubanga should be freed after his war crimes trial was suspended unless prosecutors mount an appeal within days. Presiding judge Adrian Fulford that Lubanga should be "freed without conditions" as his detention "is no longer fair" given the suspension of the trial.

Tens of thousands of people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have fled their homes amid an army offensive against Ugandan rebels, presenting fresh impetus to humanitarian agencies’ efforts to adapt their response mechanisms to sudden displacement. Local NGOs listed 50,000 displaced civilians who had taken flight since DRC military operations against the Allied Democratic Forces/National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF/NALU) started on 25 June in the North Kivu district of Beni.

When nine-year-old Jeanne* from North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was raped by a neighbour, her parents were determined he would not get away with it. With the help of an international organization that provides legal services for victims of sexual violence, they contacted the police and got a lawyer. Then the DRC’s legal system kicked in.

An international autopsy team looking into the death of a prominent Congolese human rights activist was unable to give a conclusive cause of death. The death of Floribert Chebeya, whose corpse was found in his car last month after he was summoned to see the police chief, caused outrage and led to calls for an international investigation.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) today suspended proceedings in the case of a Congolese warlord accused of recruiting child soldiers, saying that prosecutors have refused orders to disclose information to his defence. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, the founder and leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots in the Ituri region of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), faces two counts of war crimes: conscripting and enlisting child soldiers into the military wing of his group and then using them to participate in hostilities between September 2002 and August 2003

Tens of thousands of Congolese Tutsi refugees living in Rwanda for more than a decade are preparing to return to North Kivu province. But longstanding and unresolved tensions over land threaten to upset their homecoming. More than 53,000 registered refugees have been living across the border since the chaos surrounding the 1997 ousting of President Mobutu Sese Seko by Rwanda- and Uganda-backed rebels.

A debt relief programme worth $12.3bn (£8.1bn) has been agreed for the Democratic Republic of Congo, it has been announced. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank said the country had made good efforts to reform its economy and governance in recent years.

At least 220 people were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo when an overturned oil tanker exploded and set fire to parts of a village. Scores more were injured in the accident in Sange, near the border with Burundi. Some of those who died were trying to collect leaking fuel, but others were trapped inside buildings, including a cinema, by the fire.

As the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) transforms into a stabilization force, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed that the world body’s main priority of protecting civilians will continue. Last month, the Security Council passed a resolution authorizing the withdrawal of up to 2,000 UN military personnel – from an existing strength of 19,815 – by today from areas where security has improved enough to allow their removal.

A son of Congo's first democratically-elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, is to seek the prosecution for war crimes of 12 Belgian officials suspected of aiding his father's assassination in 1961. Lawyers for Francois Lumumba said on Tuesday that they planned to file the complaint at a Brussels court in October – a week before the Democratic Republic of Congo celebrates 50 years of independence from its former colonial master, Belgium.