Demokratische Republik Kongo

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) on Tuesday endorsed the deployment of troops from southern African nations with an offensive mandate in the restive Democratic Republic of Congo. The move was reached during the Council’s virtual meeting held to discuss the situation in eastern Congo and the deployment of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission in Congo known as SAMIDRC.

In an interview, Christophe Lutundula calls for international sanctions against Kigali, accusing it of supporting the rebel movement M23.

In a statement, the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) said it handed over its first base at Kamanyola, on the border with Burundi, to the national police, launching its phased withdrawal from eastern DR Congo. 

The UN Security Council has sanctioned 6 people from armed groups amid escalation between the Congolese government and M23 rebels. The US and France called for Rwanda to stop supporting the group.

Congolese Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde resigned on Tuesday, choosing, instead, to focus on parliamentary duties as an elected legislator.

[…] Briefing the Security Council in New York, UN Special Representative Bintou Keita urged ambassadors to do all they can to prevent the fighting in North Kivu province from spreading beyond the border.

South Africa's mission to help bring peace and security to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has gotten off to a deadly start. … The deaths are the first fatalities to take place within the Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC (SMIDRC). South Africa had deployed 2,900 South African forces to assist Kinshasa to bring peace, stability and security to the region.

Civilians in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are once again bearing the brunt of localized violence, amid a sharp uptick in fighting between Government forces and the M23 armed group, the UN refugee agency reported on Wednesday.

Police in Democratic Republic of Congo fired tear gas Monday to disperse protesters who burned tires and U.S. and Belgian flags near Western embassies and UN offices in the capital Kinshasa, angry about insecurity in eastern Congo.

A rocket landed near a university in the Congolese city of Goma on Wednesday as thousands of civilians fled a fresh advance by M23 rebels that threatens to isolate the city of around two million people.