News About Congo

Congo Boat Sinking 'Kills 140'

2010-07-29T13:23:20-04:00

Transportation accidents in Congo are using catastrophic due to overcrowding and disregarding safety measures.

This applies to cars to cars, trucks, trains, and boats.

BBC News - DR Congo boat sinking 'kills 140'.

Up to 140 people are feared dead after a boat carrying passengers and goods capsized on a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials say.

The accident happened on the Kasai river - a tributary of the Congo River - in the western province of Bandundu.

Information Minister Lambert Mende told the BBC the boat had been overloaded and 80 people had been confirmed dead.

After decades of conflict, DR Congo has few roads or rail links and many people travel on often overloaded vessels.

Sixty Children Were Killed

2010-07-06T18:35:34-04:00

Many of the victim of the tanker explosion in Congo last were innocent children watching a soccer match at a theater.

Fuel distribution in Congo is hazardous at best. In central Congo, independent dealers are every where. However, most of fuel being distributed is diesel. And fuel is most distributed in 55-gallon drums.

Congo risks more killer fuel accident: expert | Top News | Reuters.

The Democratic Republic of Congo risks another fuel explosion like that which killed some 230 people at the weekend unless it boosts safety in the chaotic east and south of the country, a sector expert said on Monday.

More than 60 children, many of them watching football in makeshift cinema halls, were among those killed in the blast after an oil tanker toppled, and leaking petrol later ignited with the force equivalent to 343 kg (756 lb) of dynamite.

"It can easily happen again unless the government tightens safety measures," Alain Ilunga, deputy CEO of Congo's fuel distribution company SEP Congo, a joint venture with Total, told Reuters on Monday.

The Problem Is No One Would Reject Congo

2010-06-12T13:49:36-04:00

The author in this NY Times' article is dreaming! No one country would reject the Congo. That is, close the doors of their embassy, close the doors of the Congo's embassy in their country, and stop recognizing the sovereignty of the Congo.

Op-Ed Contributor - To Save Africa, Reject Its Nations - NYTimes.com.

THE World Cup, which began on Friday, is bringing deserved appreciation of South Africa as a nation that transitioned from white minority domination to a vibrant pluralist democracy. Yet its achievements stand largely alone on the continent. Of the 17 African nations that are commemorating their 50th anniversaries of independence this year — the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia will both do so in the coming weeks — few have anything to truly celebrate.

So, for the past five decades, most Africans have suffered predation of colonial proportions by the very states that were supposed to bring them freedom. And most of these nations, broke from their own thievery, are now unable to provide their citizens with basic services like security, roads, hospitals and schools. What can be done?

The first and most urgent task is that the donor countries that keep these nations afloat should cease sheltering African elites from accountability. To do so, the international community must move swiftly to derecognize the worst-performing African states, forcing their rulers — for the very first time in their checkered histories — to search for support and legitimacy at home.

How Are Things Going In The Congo?

2010-05-27T18:52:23-04:00

Many people ask the question. How are things going in the Congo? Or they ask. Are thing improving in the Congo?

Here's my assessment and answer to the question. For the part, except for eastern provinces, Congo continues to be stable and is making progress.

Although, the State Department warns US citizens of the risk of traveling to Congo. You have to read the travel warning to understand the situation. Most of the instability is in the eastern provinces of South Kivu and North Kivu. However, other provinces were mentioned. A high ranking State Department official sees "positive momentum", too.

I travel to the central provinces of West Kasai and East Kasai. They are not mentioned!

allAfrica.com: Africa: U.S. Official Sees Improvement in Africa's Great Lakes Region.

Assistant Secretary Carson pledges support to region's "positive momentum" The situation in Africa's Great Lakes region has improved and the United States remains "dedicated to doing what we can to keep that positive momentum going," the State Department's senior diplomat for African affairs told the U.S. Congress May 25.

In testimony before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson said central to those efforts is improving the situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), "where the continuing presence of armed groups has been exacerbated by the lack of state authority." The assistant secretary was on Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on the latest developments in the region.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's military, commonly referred to as FARDC (Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo) is "ineffective and frequently abusive," Carson told the lawmakers.

facing extreme risk of food shortages

2010-05-26T16:14:01-04:00

Congo's food shortages are caused by poverty, poor agriculture development, mineral conflicts, and poor transportation infrastructure.

Feeding the world: which countries are most at risk?.

Poverty is a major source of food vulnerability but not the only one, said the study by Maplecroft, a Britain-based firm that provides risk intelligence for businesses.

"Food security is also affected by agricultural development, trade flows, foreign aid as well as government policies on nutrition," said Alyson Warhurst, a professor at Warwick Business School in central England and co-director of Maplecroft. "Added to these are the impacts of population growth and climate change," she told AFP.

The five countries topping the risk list -- Angola, Haiti, Mozambique, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo -- are all mired in poverty, but other factors also boost vulnerability.

I Can't Wait to Ask the Question

2010-05-25T16:37:46-04:00

Is 'the pill' available? That's the question I want to ask the doctors of the Bulape Hospital and Health Zone in rural Congo (DRC).

I never thought about asking in the past. I had heard most rural Congolese considered a form of their retirement plan. Also, I knew that the Congolese families had many children to make allowance for the high child mortality rate. It is a fact, one in five children do not live to their fifth birthday.

But I failed to think about the Congolese women. Child birth complications kill one out of thirteen of them.

For more about the poverty and the pill, please read the article below or in its entirety.

Poverty and the pill.

In almost every village we stop in, we chat with families whose huts overflow with small children - whom the parents can't always afford to educate, feed or protect from disease.

Here in Kinshasa, we met Emilie Lunda, 25, who had nearly died during childbirth a few days earlier. Doctors saved her life, but her baby died. And she is still recuperating in a hospital and doesn't know how she will pay the bill.

"I didn't want to get pregnant," Emilie told us here in the Congolese capital. "I was afraid of getting pregnant." But she had never heard of birth control.

In rural parts of Congo Republic, the other Congo to the north, we found that even when people had heard of contraception, they often regarded it as unaffordable.

Most appalling, all the clinics and hospitals we visited in Congo Republic said that they would sell contraceptives only to women who brought their husbands in with them to prove that the husband accepted birth control.

Give Yourself A Hand

2010-05-19T17:43:47-04:00

Give yourself a hand! Congolese Women say THANK YOU.

The Congo Conflict Minerals and Transparency Amendments to Financial Regulatory Reform Bill focus needed attention on the crisis in eastern Congo, "the worst place in the world to be female”.

Russ Feingold: In the News - Press Releases.

Mr. President, I am very pleased that my colleagues agreed yesterday to accept the first amendment, sponsored by Senator Brownback. This amendment specifically responds to the continued crisis in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite efforts to curb the violence, mass atrocities and widespread sexual violence and rape continue at an alarming rate. Some have justifiably labeled eastern Congo as “the worst place in the world to be female.” Several of us in this body, including Senators Brownback and Durbin and I, have traveled to this region and seen first-hand the tragedy of this relentless crisis. Increasingly, American citizens are also learning of the devastating situation in eastern Congo and are actively engaged to bring about policy changes. I am pleased to see Americans so engaged on this issue.

One of the underlying reasons this crisis persists is the exploitation and illicit trade in natural resources, specifically cassiterite, columbite-tantalite, wolframite and gold. The United Nations Group of Experts has reported for years how parties to the conflict in eastern Congo continue to benefit and finance themselves by controlling mines or taxing trading routes for these minerals. In response to these reports, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1857 (2008), encouraging Member States “to ensure that companies handling minerals from the DRC exercise due diligence on their suppliers.” Over a year ago, Senator Brownback, Senator Durbin and I teamed up to author legislation that would do just that: the Congo Conflict Minerals Act, S.891.

Water Crisis Hits Mbuji-Mayi

2010-05-07T15:55:45-04:00

Can you imagine a town of 3 million people without water for domestic use?

Congo's infrastructure is fragile and collapse quite frequently. It is aged and under-sized.

Mbuji-Mayi, the twin provincial capital of the Kasai Provinces in central Congo, is located in East Kasai.

Hundreds of thousands of residents of Mbuji-Mayi, central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are caught up in a water crisis since a landslide damaged the town’s water supply in March.

Some of the town’s three million residents now walk more than 20km daily in search of water, with reports that a water vendor died recently after a lorry ran over him as he ferried water for sale in Mbuji-Mayi.

“Lack of water in Mbuji-Mayi has been dire for several weeks now; at the moment people are obliged to walk over 20km to fetch water for domestic use from small rivers around the town,” Theodore Thiyekele, a Catholic priest, told IRIN. “Others are buying drinking water from young men who fetch it from sources far away from the town.”

Where is the 'rape capital of the world'?

2010-04-29T09:42:38-04:00

Women and girls are the targets now. Armed militias are not shooting each other. They are using rape against women and girls.

BBC News - UN official calls DR Congo 'rape capital of the world'.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is "the rape capital of the world", a senior UN official has said.

Margot Wallstrom, the UN's special representative on sexual violence in conflict, urged the Security Council to punish the perpetrators in DR Congo.

Rape remained a dominant feature of the ongoing conflict in eastern DR Congo, with impunity being the rule rather than the exception, she said. More than 8,000 women were raped during fighting in 2009, the UN says.

"Women have no rights, if those who violate their rights go unpunished," Ms Wallstrom told the UN Security Council on her return from DR Congo.

"If women continue to suffer sexual violence, it is not because the law is inadequate to protect them, but because it is inadequately enforced," she said.

The UN mission in DR Congo, Monuc, has been trying to deal with the problem by escorting women on their way to market, developing early warning systems and working with local officials, according to a UN statement.

Just Scandalous

2010-04-19T19:53:58-04:00

The Congo is not ready for the UN's departure. Eastern Congo is still the wild, wild East. One election does not make a democracy.

It's just scandalous to think of withdrawal of the UN forces.

U.N. fears Congo pullout will hurt fight against rape | Reuters.

Margot Wallstrom, the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, is visiting Congo, where thousands of women are raped every year, as the U.N. tries to persuade the government not to demand a hasty withdrawal of the U.N. force.

Democratic Republic of Congo has advanced legislation in place to outlaw sexual violence but Wallstrom said the country's capacity to implement it was "near zero."

"How will it help if (the U.N. peacekeeping mission) withdraws? Will it help the situation here? I think not ... I have a lot of fears," she added in Kinshasa Monday.

Aid agencies and rights groups accustomed to the violence and suffering during and since Congo's 1998-2003 war, which left millions dead, have been shocked by reports of the scale and brutality of the rapes by rebel and government forces alike.

The U.N. warning echoes a call last week by UK rights group Amnesty International, which called the situation scandalous.

With celebrations of the 50th anniversary of independence this year and elections next, Congo is keen for the peacekeeping mission, known as MONUC, to start withdrawing within months and wants the last blue helmet out in 2011.