The United Nations Security Council should vigorously condemn war crimes by Congolese army soldiers in the eastern part of the country, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch urged the Security Council to condition UN support for Congolese military operations on the removal of known human rights abusers from command positions.

Many people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are dying of treatable diseases because they attribute their symptoms to a poison they believe only traditional healers can cure, according to health officials. "Many people are dying in this region because of this phobia whose current spread has to do with the environment we are living in and the wars we have experienced," said North Kivu provincial medical inspector Dominique Bahago.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is stepping up its humanitarian activities in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in response to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation that has taken place since autumn 2008. The lack of security arising from ongoing clashes and military operations is exacerbating the already bleak conditions for displaced people (IDPs) – estimated to number more than 300,000 – and their host communities in North Kivu and is having a devastating impact on people's livelihoods.

The wars that have wracked the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1996, killing well over 5 million people (International Rescue Committee, 1/08) in what may be the deadliest conflict since World War II, are officially over. A peace agreement was signed in 2002, and general elections were held in 2006.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged the Governor of the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern province of North Kivu to ensure the safety of journalists. The committee also expressed concern about the safety of journalist Tuver Wundi Muhindo following an armed attack on his home.

More than 100,000 displaced civilians in Lubero territory in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo desperately need protection from further attacks by Rwandan militias and Congolese forces, Human Rights Watch has said. Human Rights Watch called on the United Nations peacekeeping force and humanitarian agencies to take urgent steps to increase protection and assistance to the civilians at risk.

Plans are under way to release more child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a UN envoy has said at the end of a one-week visit, urging an end to ongoing violations against children in a humanitarian crisis engulfing the country’s east.

A recent deadly attack by Hutu rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has left five children dead and hundreds of homes burned to the ground, village leaders have told the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUC).

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the number of civilians uprooted in continuing raids by the so-called Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the Lubero area of North Kivu over the last seven weeks has risen to over 100,000. A series of concerted attacks carried out by the rebel group against civilians in the villages of Luofu, Kirumba, Kanyabonga and Kayna near Lubero, 170 kms north of Goma, have left a trail of death and destruction and caused recurrent displacement.

The United Nations human rights envoy tasked with protecting the rights of children in armed conflict is set to arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for talks to ensure greater protection for children amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis engulfing the country’s east.

Some 250,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been displaced following an operation to flush out Hutu rebels, aid agency Oxfam has said. The joint operation against the rebels earlier this year was hailed as a great success by both Rwanda and DR Congo.

The Rwandan Foreign minister, Ms. Rosemary Museminaly, said here Thursday that some legal technicalities were still stalling the extradition, to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), of rebel leader Laurent Nkund a batware, who was arrested in Rwanda in January. Museminaly, who was speaking as a guest of the European parliament, said, however, that the question of extradition had already been agreed upon in principle by the authorities concerned.

First there were "blood diamonds," the gems that fueled conflict and human rights abuses in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Then there was "conflict cocoa," the chocolate source that's harvested by children and funds civil war in Ivory Coast. Now concern is rising about the minerals that go into common consumer electronics. Could that be a BloodBerry or a Conflict Cell in your pocket?

One of Africa’s largest countries, DRC, has taken the first towards creating a fibre link to its neighbours and the outside world. A little-noticed announcement was made at the end of last month by the Vice-First Minister for Reconstruction that gave the green light to start construction work on a fibre optic link from the capital Kinshasa to the coastal town of Muanda. Russell Southwood looks at the potential impact on the country’s connectivity.

Rwanda and DRC have set in motion high-level negotiations over the return of warlord Gen Laurent Nkunda after a deal on Monday in which the government ceded too much ground to the Gen Nkunda’s former fighters. Rwanda Foreign Affairs Minister, Rosemary Museminali, was set to meet with her DRC counterpart Alexis Tambwe Mwamba on Thursday, with teams representing security, diplomacy and justice to discuss bilateral cooperation on a number of fronts, including Gen Nkunda’s fate.

The Democratic Republic of Congo government registered its ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa on 9 February 2009, bringing the [pdf: 68kb].

Pressure to provide new housing in South Kivu is mounting as more and more people return to the relatively peaceful and stable province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). But the ability of agency's such as UNHCR to keep pace with demand will depend on the continuing generosity of donors. "The absence of adequate housing is one of the biggest challenges refugees face upon their return to South Kivu. After years of absence, most find their homes destroyed and have nowhere to stay," Sebastien Apatita, head of the UN refugee agency's office in Baraka, explained during a recent visit.

In order to end the sexual violence plaguing the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), it is necessary to stop the activity of armed groups but also to ensure security forces have strong discipline, the top United Nations envoy there has said. Responding to a group of women victims of such violence as he continued to assess the humanitarian situation in North Kivu province, Alan Doss, Special Representative of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for the DRC, voiced the need to “put an end to the presence of armed groups, but also to put discipline into the heart of security forces.”

Attacks by the Hutu rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, are still causing displacement over a wide area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's North Kivu province. On 20 January, Congolese and Rwandan forces launched an offensive to forcefully disarm the FDLR, considered by Rwanda as a major threat to its national security. FDLR has been retaliating against the civilian population and has launched sporadic attacks on villages in North Kivu.

The conviction of the Mai Mai commander Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga and 20 other Mai Mai combatants for crimes on major charges, including crimes against humanity, by a military court on March 5, 2009, was a crucial step toward creating accountability in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch has said.