UN Report Details More Than 500 Killed in DRC Massacres
UN investigators found that more than five hundred men, women, and children were killed and more than one hundred others injured in massacres in Mai-Ndombe Province last December that appeared to have been triggered by a dispute over the burial of a local chief (UN News)
DRC Rebel Leader Sues ICC for Damages
Lawyers for former militia leader Jean-Pierre Bemba are seeking $75 million in damages from the International Criminal Court (ICC) after Bemba was acquitted on war crimes charges last year. The amount is equal to about half of the ICC’s annual budget (Reuters)
DRC Leader Agrees to Coalition Government
President Felix Tshisekedi and his predecessor Joseph Kabila announced in a joint statement yesterday that they will form a coalition. Kabila’s Common Front for Congo holds a large majority in the National Assembly (Agence France-Presse)
DRC Announces Decision to Release Prisoners
President Felix Tshisekedi announced that within ten days his government will release all prisoners held for their political views, particularly those arrested during protests before last December’s election (BBC)
Ebola Treatment Center Attacked in DRC
Amid increasing sentiments of distrust towards health agencies in the DRC, a second Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Ebola treatment facility in the country’s North Kivu province was set on fire this week. The current Ebola outbreak has killed nearly five hundred fifty people (Guardian)
DRC Political Parties Pledge Loyalty to Former President Kabila
The leaders of the eighteen political parties in the Common Front for Congo coalition, which holds a vast majority of seats in parliament, signed a loyalty pledge to former President Joseph Kabila (Agence France-Presse)
DRC Announces a Rise in Ebola Death Toll
A report published by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s health ministry noted that over five hundred people have died from the country’s most recent Ebola outbreak that started in the North Kivu region last August (Al Jazeera)
DRC President Sworn In
Felix Tshisekedi was sworn in as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo today following calls from Western and African nations for an election recount (France24)
Candidate Martin Fayulu, who claims he won the vote, lost a challenge in the Constitutional Court last week; he has called Tshisekedi’s victory a “coup” arranged with outgoing President Joseph Kabila (Daily Nation)
Regional Bloc Calls for Vote Recount in DRC
The Southern African Development Community, a sixteen-member regional bloc, said a recount in the Democratic Republic of Congo would provide the “necessary reassurance to both winners and losers.” The body also recommended a unity government that would include representatives in support of outgoing President Joseph Kabila, as well as opposition figures Felix Tshisekedi and Martin Fayulu (Al Jazeera)
DRC Opposition Leader Named Election Winner
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission declared opposition figure Felix Tshisekedi the winner of the December 30 election, after earning nearly 40 percent of votes in the election involving more than twenty contenders (Washington Post)
Martin Fayulu, the other leading opposition candidate, called the result an “electoral coup,” and his supporters have suggested that outgoing President Joseph Kabila has brokered a power-sharing deal with Tshisekedi (Reuters)
Several European diplomats said vote tallies by the Catholic Church showed Fayulu as the winner (New York Times)
DRC Election Results Again Delayed
The electoral commission said it could not release the results of a December 30 election over the weekend due to delays in receiving tally sheets (Guardian)
The United States has deployed about eighty troops to nearby Gabon to assist U.S. citizens and diplomatic personnel in the case of violent protests (CNN)
Security Council to Meet Over DRC Election
The UN Security Council is holding a closed-door meeting today on the Democratic Republic of Congo ahead of the release of results of Sunday’s presidential election. The long-postponed election could mark Congo’s first democratic transition, though concerns remain about the country’s ability to ensure a free and fair vote (Agence France-Presse)
DRC Exodus Raises Fears of Ebola Outbreak Spreading
The Red Cross in Uganda said hundreds of Congolese have fled to the neighboring country since last weekend’s presidential election, raising fears that an Ebola outbreak in Congo’s northeast could spread (Associated Press)
DRC Cuts Internet Following Election
A top advisor to President Joseph Kabila said internet and text messaging services were cut to maintain public order after “fictitious results” of a Sunday election circulated on social media. Official results are expected to be released on January 6 (Reuters)
DRC Expels EU Ambassador Ahead of Vote
The government said the envoy’s removal was in response to the European Union’s renewal of sanctions on top Congolese officials, including the ruling party’s presidential candidate in the long-postponed election (Reuters)
Three Cities Excluded From DRC Election
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission said voters in three opposition cities will not cast ballots on Sunday, December 30, the date for a long-postponed general election, due to an ongoing Ebola outbreak (Reuters)
U.S. State Department Staff Ordered to Leave DRC
The United States ordered nonemergency diplomatic staff and their family members to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo ahead of a December 23 presidential election that observers fear could turn violent (Reuters)
DRC on High Alert as Ebola Outbreak Grows
An outbreak of the Ebola virus in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that began in August has grown to more than 450 confirmed cases and another forty-eight probable cases, according to health authorities. Close to three hundred people have died in the outbreak (WHO)
Separately, police fired tear gas and bullets into a crowd of supporters of opposition presidential candidate Martin Fayulu, killing at least one person, according to local religious and civil society leaders (Reuters)
Nine Killed in Eastern DRC
Suspected members of the Allied Democratic Forces killed nine civilians yesterday in the town of Oicha in the Beni region (Agence France-Presse)
Aid Groups in DRC Protest UN Data
A letter from dozens of aid agencies in the Democratic Republic of Congo accused the United Nations of “cynical manipulation” of data about internally displaced people in the country to convey a more positive impression ahead of a December presidential election. A UN spokesperson said the complaint was due to a “difference in perception of the data” (Reuters)
WHO Says DRC Ebola Outbreak Now Second Largest in History
The World Health Organization said an outbreak of the Ebola virus in the country’s east has become the second largest in history. There have so far been 198 deaths and 379 confirmed cases (Al Jazeera)
Opposition Leader Returns to DRC
Tens of thousands of supporters gathered in Kinshasa for the return of opposition figure Felix Tshisekedi from Kenya as he launched a campaign to replace President Joseph Kabila in a December election. Tshisekedi and his running mate, Vital Kamerhe, recently pulled out of an agreement among opposition groups to unite behind one candidate (Associated Press)
United States Closes Embassy in DRC’s Kinshasa
The United States temporarily closed its embassy in Kinshasa and urged its citizens in the Democratic Republic of Congo to maintain a low profile following reports of a terrorism threat (Voice of America)
Government Soldiers, UN Peacekeepers Killed in DRC
Fourteen Congolese soldiers and UN peacekeepers were killed in a join operation against rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces in the country’s North Kivu Province this week (Al Jazeera)
DRC Opposition Leaders Pull Support for Single Candidate
Two Congolese opposition leaders backtracked on a commitment to support a single candidate in a December 23 election after the opposition’s decision to back businessman Martin Fayulu sparked protests in the capital of Kinshasa yesterday (Reuters)