United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
Marie Aimee Lalao
23 October 2007
press release
VOA of 22/10/2007 at 19:30 GMT
DRC: Temporary calm after weekend clashes
Tension remains high in North Kivu, in eastern DRC, after violent clashes during the weekend, which opposed the Maï Mai associated with the Rwandan rebels (FDLR) and the dissidents of Laurent Nkunda, and on the one hand, and the dissidents of Nkunda and the FARDC on the other.
The UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) gives an important military support to the Congolese army to try to pressure these militias to stop fighting amongst themselves, and so that they stop challenging the Congolese army", explained Sylvie Van Den Wildenberg, MONUC spokesperson in Goma.
The idea is to encourage these armed groups to seize the supplementary deadline granted by president Kabila and the government Congolese to deposit weapons and to integrate into the Congolese army, or to return to civilian life, explained the spokesperson.
On Monday, Congolese president Joseph Kabila started his official visit to the United States in the state of Arizona. From a diplomatic source, Kabila will discuss an agricultural development project. He will be received at the White House by the American president Bush. One of the topics that will be discussed is certainly the security situation, especially in eastern DRC.
RFI of 23/10/07 at 5:30 GMT
Germain Katanga's process: First audience of verification
Germain Katanga, former warlord of the FRPI militia, appeared this Monday before the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Germain Katanga does not feel comfortable, entering the court with head lowered. He claimed that he doesn't understand French very well and they had to look for two interpreters for him: one for lingala (the most spoken language in the DRC) and one for Swahili.
In fact the audience was meant for the ICC judges to inform Mr. Katanga of his charges. He is accused of massacres, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
RFI of 23/10/07 at 6h00 GMT
Rape as a weapon of war in eastern DRC
Thousands of women are humiliated and raped, and many are subjected to slavery and sexual violence.
A gynecologist explained:
"It began since 1999. Women from three to 65 years of age have been raped.
Last year, they were around 3,600 women raped, and this number remained the same for this year. In the villages, where fighting is going on, there are dreadful cases.
Women are taken hostage and remain a long time in the forest. They were raped. Sometimes, they received some bullets in the vagina and they come out with a vagina completely very destroyed.
Panzi Hospital is a specialized hospital for woman suffering from fistula. When they succeed in returning, they come to the hospital. There are girls who cannot return anymore to the school. They suffer."
RFI of 23/10/07 at 6h00 GMT
President Kabila is in the United States since yesterday. On Friday 26 October he is going to meet President Bush.
Bush will certainly ask him about the agreement between the DRC and China.
President Kabila won't fail to ask him to exercise more pressure on Nkunda and Kagamé.
BBC of 23/10/07 at 1:46 GMT
Congo warlord appears before the ICC
Congolese warlord Germain Katanga has appeared before the International Criminal Court in the Hague - only the second suspect to do so.
Mr Katanga is accused of murder, sexual enslavement and forcing children to fight as soldiers in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Forces for Patriotic Resistance (FRPI) leader is the second Congolese warlord to be sent to The Hague. Thomas Lubanga was flown there in 2006, accused of recruiting child soldiers.
War crimes charges:
Mr Katanga, 29, was told of the accusations against him and his rights in detention during the procedural hearing.
Prosecutors say Mr Katanga - known as Simba - led the FRPI in north-eastern DR Congo in 2003. He was arrested two years ago.
Judges say there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Katanga led an attack on the village of Bogoro in which 200 civilians were killed.
The prosecution alleges his fighters, which had the support of the Lendu ethnic group, committed atrocities against civilians of the Hema ethnic group in the Ituri region.
Fighting in the gold-rich Ituri region broke out in 1999 and continued until 2003.
The war, which began as a struggle for control of land and resources, deteriorated as arms proliferated and members of the Ugandan army became involved.
This turned a local dispute into an inter-ethnic war that killed an estimated 50,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
