The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Observateurs des droits de l’Homme (CODHO), a member of OMCT network, that a new child has been sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For details of how you can help, follow the links below.

WFP on Friday announced the launch of an "urgent" appeal for US $2.1 million to fund a six-month emergency humanitarian air operation to begin in early August in the DRC that will enable aid workers to reach remote areas to assess the needs of war-torn populations and set up relief operations.

The European Union commissioner for development has stressed the need for leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo to try to reunite the country if the DRC is to receive development aid, sources in Kinshasa told IRIN.

The decision by the Central African Republic (CAR) earlier this week to close its Ubangui River border with the DRC came as no surprise to Jean-Pierre Bemba's rebel Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC), which controls the neighbouring Equateur province, MLC secretary general Olivier Kamitatu told Radio France Internationale (RFI) on Thursday.

On Tuesday 17 July 2001, Joseph Mutambule, Joachim Diana Gikupa, Kipela Mondo and Mireille Kavungu, deputy director-general, publication director, principal editor-in-chief and management secretary, respectively, from the pro-government daily "L'Avenir", were summoned to the Public Prosecutor's Office's Criminal Investigation Department (Police judiciaire des parquets, PJP) in Kinshasa / Gombe.

The International Development Research Centre is holding a competition for Internship Awards this Fall. These awards provide exposure to research for international development through a program of training in research management and grant administration under the guidance of IDRC program staff. Internships are tenable for a minimum of 4 months and a maximum of 12 months at IDRC headquarters in Ottawa or in a Regional Office. Candidates can be Canadians (or permanent residents) or citizens of developing countries, and should have had some training at the Master's level. Deadline for receipt of applications is September 14, 2001. Awards will commence in January 2002.

The first 34 of a total 159 demobilised child soldiers were flown home on Wednesday from Uganda to Bunia in the Ituri district of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to be reunited with their families, UNICEF announced on Thursday. The children have been staying in a World Vision-Uganda transit centre in Kiryandongo, 220 km north of the capital Kampala, under the supervision of UNICEF-Uganda since February this year when the government of Uganda handed them over.

Seminars on community peace building in Bukavu have contributed to the restoration of a "relatively peaceful" situation in certain zones, Save the Children UK (SC UK) said in its July update. Bunyakiri, Walungu and Kaziba were some of the zones in which the positive results were realised. SC UK supported some partner organisations working in Bukavu, ran these seminars which focused on the reintegration and protection of the child soldiers and the prevention of child recruitment.

Health workers will try to vaccinate 16 million children in central Africa this week in an attempt to rid the region of polio. The five day campaign aims to immunise all children under five in Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. By simultaneously targeting the population at risk in one of the last reservoirs of polio, the campaigners hope to cut the viral transmission chain and finally eradicate the crippling disease.

During the past three years, thousands of unarmed civilians, including children, women, journalists and human rights defenders, have been subjected to torture in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said Amnesty International today in its latest report Torture: a weapon of war against unarmed civilians.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday recommended a career diplomat from Egypt to chair a panel of experts investigating the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the DRC.

The NGO, Medecins sans frontieres-Belgique (MSF-Belgium), on Thursday sent 22 mt of medical kits and logistical equipment for use in eastern and northern parts of the DRC. In a press statement, the organisation said the assistance was intended for people affected by measles, cholera and bloody diarrhoea. However, it warned, that despite the pressing need for humanitarian assistance, this alone was not enough.

The Congolese authorities have reportedly prevented opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi from leaving the country to attend a meeting of the Socialist International organisation in Portugal. According to a statement from Tshisekedi's party, the Union pour la democratie et le progres social (UDPS), he has been forbidden to leave his house in Kinshasa and is currently at home "under surveillance".

In a 21 May 2001 letter, the minister of communications and press announced that eight community radio and television stations in Lower Congo (Bas-Congo) province will be banned as of 30 June. The targeted stations include Radio Sango Malamu (RSM), Radio Télé Matadi (RTM), Radio Communautaire Muanda (RCM), Radio Télé Mbanza-Ngungu (RTBC), Télé Bralima (TB), Site Télé Inga (STI), Radio Kintuadi Matadi (RKM) and Radio Télé Ngovado

Salary : £ 27,346 GBP pa
Location : Kinshasa, Congo
Closing Date : 29 Jun 2001
Job posted on : 8 Jun 2001

DRC President Joseph Kabila has launched a national campaign to prevent the recruitment of child soldiers and to prepare for their demobilisation from the Congolese army and their reintegration into society, UNICEF announced on Thursday. The initiative, which has the financial support of UNICEF, seeks to prohibit all children under 18 years of age from being sent to the frontline and from being involved in any purely military task, such as the handling of weapons.

Burundi's permanent representative to the UN Marc Nteturuye on Wednesday stressed there would not be lasting peace in the DRC if that country had to rebuild itself at the expense of Burundi. He told a Security Council debate on Congo that "the welcome peace prospects in the DRC are paradoxically, but deliberately, at the root of the worsening security situation in Burundi".

A recent UN-NGO assessment mission to areas of northwestern Equateur province found a dramatic lack of resources for displaced people, OCHA said. The visit took in the towns of Mbandaka, Boende and Ikela all of which are located near the frontline and which had poor access to humanitarian assistance. Most of the displaced people were living with host families.

The rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) has issued an "ultimatum" to the Kinshasa government, warning that it will resume the war unless President Joseph Kabila "stops transferring the war to the east". According to an RCD statement, received by IRIN on Wednesday, the movement's secretary-general Ruberwa Azarias issued the warning at a press conference in Goma on Tuesday.

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Observateurs des droits de l’Homme (CODHO), a member of OMCT, that Diyavanga Nkuyu, Mbumba Ilunga, Mwati Kabwe, Bosey Jean-Louis and Banga Djuna, 5 children condemned to death by the Military Court (COM, Cour d’Ordre Militaire), had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. According to the same information, Nanasi Kisala was also condemned to death, but has not benefited from the presidential decision and is still awaiting execution.