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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 6, 2008
2:00 PM

CONTACT: Amnesty International

DRC: Demonstrate Leadership to Address Crisis Immediately

- November 6 - African and international leaders meeting tomorrow, 7 November, at an international summit in Nairobi, Kenya, need to urgently press the United Nations Security Council to provide reinforcements and specialist personnel and equipment to the UN peacekeeping force in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo so that it can better protect civilians, Amnesty International said today.

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Posted in Human Rights, War/Empire, Congo

Kenya to Host DR Congo Summit As Clashes Threaten Ceasefire

Congolese civilians displaced by fighting line up at a food distribution center in the town of Kibati, November 5, 2008. The United Nations and foreign aid groups are scrambling to cope with an emergency described as \"catastrophic\" by relief workers in a country where more than 5 million people have died in a decade from conflict, hunger and disease. (REUTERS/Les Neuhaus)

RUTSHURU, DR Congo - Rebels and pro-government militia clashed for a second successive day in the Democratic Republic of Congo Wednesday, rocking a fragile ceasefire as Kenya announced it would host an emergency summit on the crisis.

"There will be a summit in Kenya on Friday," Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said, adding that the presidents of DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and representatives of the United Nations and African Union would attend.

"The agenda will be... the fighting in eastern DR Congo and how to resolve it," said Wetangula.

Posted in Africa, Congo

UN Aid Convoy Crosses Congo Frontline

The UN says 250,000 people have been displaced by fighting since August. (Photograph: Stephen Morrison/EPA)

A UN aid convoy crossed into a rebel-controlled area in eastern Congo today to provide relief supplies to tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting.

The 12-vehicle convoy crossed the frontline between government troops and rebels controlled by Laurent Nkunda, in the first mission of its kind since the violence started in August.

Posted in Africa, Congo

Congo Refugees Plead to World: 'Protect Us'

Displaced people walk back towards their homes, near Kibumba, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Goma in eastern Congo, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008. Thousands of war-weary refugees returned to the the road Saturday, taking advantage of a rebel-called cease-fire to try to reach home beyond the front lines of this week's battles in eastern Congo. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

KIBATI, Congo - Hungry, frightened Congolese refugees pleaded for protection from marauding fighters on Sunday while foreign governments discussed aid but hesitated over sending more troops.

European, U.S. and U.N. envoys have criss-crosssd the Great Lakes region trying to prevent a newly resurgent Tutsi rebellion in the eastern Congolese borderlands from escalating into a rerun of Democratic Republic of Congo's 1998-2003 war.

Posted in refugees, Congo

Diplomatic Drive to Avert Disaster in DR Congo

A boy stands on a hill overlooking a refugee camp in the outskirts of Goma. The French and British foreign ministers have held crisis talks with President Joseph Kabila in a diplomatic push to halt a rebel advance and looming humanitarian disaster in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. (AFP/Roberto Schmidt)

KINSHASA - The French and British foreign ministers held crisis talks with President Joseph Kabila on Saturday, in a diplomatic push to halt a rebel advance and looming humanitarian disaster in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bernard Kouchner and David Miliband met Kabila for 90 minutes before travelling to rebel-beseiged Goma, and then on to Kigali to see President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, which has been accused of aiding the Tutsi rebel assault.

Posted in Human Rights, War/Empire, Congo

The Beginning of Hope or the End of It

I spent the last month in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), much of my time in Goma. There, I was privileged to be part of the first public testimonies where women survivors of rape and sexual torture came forward in front hundreds to bravely break the silence on the terrible atrocities done to their bodies and souls during the twelve-year conflict that has embroiled the DRC. The conflict, a virtual proxy war fought between the Congolese government, former Hutu Genocidaires from Rwanda, and ethnic Tutsis is the largest the world has seen since WWII.

Posted in Human Rights, War/Empire, Congo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 31, 2008
11:45 AM

CONTACT: Friends of The Congo
Nita Evele
Congo Global Action
202.884.9783
info@friendsofthecongo.org

Friday, October 31, Vigil in Support of the People of the Congo

WASHINGTON - October 31 - Sleeping on the ground - in the rain, hungry, cold and on the move in search of safe haven. That is the plight of thousands of Congolese in East Congo today, held hostage by the forces of Rwandan-backed rebel leader Laurent Nkunda. Around 250,000 people have fled their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since a cease-fire signed in January collapsed in August.

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Nita Evele
Congo Global Action
202.884.9783
info@friendsofthecongo.org
Posted in Africa, Congo

DRC: Aid Agencies Fear Humanitarian Disaster in North Kivu

A Congolese soldier walks near a group of displaced women in Goma. Rebel troops are poised at the gates of Goma as the European Union debated sending troops and humanitarian aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo. (AFP/Walter Astrada)

UNITED NATIONS - The situation in the strategic city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was relatively calm Thursday after a night of fierce shooting and widespread looting, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported.

However, tens of thousands of Congolese fleeing the latest fighting between government forces and armed opposition groups is straining the already overburdened system of camps for North Kivu province's estimated one million internally displaced persons.

Posted in refugees, Africa, Congo

How Rebels Profit From Blood and Soil

Artisinal miners in Luntukulu, DRC dig for tungsten ore. Their mine, which is under the control of the Congolese army, abuts one in the hands of Rwandan rebels - Congo's vast mineral wealth is fueling the country's long-simmering war. (Stephanie Nolen/The Globe and Mail)

LUNTUKULU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO - Once a week, a huge, battered flatbed truck creaks its way down a mountain road and stops in this small village in eastern Congo, where the dirt track ends at a small army checkpoint.

Posted in Africa, Congo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2008
11:46 AM

CONTACT: Amnesty International
press@amnesty.org

DRC: Catastrophe Looming Unless UN Troops Receive Reinforcements

- October 30 - The situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is at risk of turning into a humanitarian catastrophe, unless further reinforcements are given to the UN peace-keeping troops so that they can protect civilians, Amnesty International said today.

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Posted in Human Rights, War/Empire, Congo
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