Demokratische Republik Kongo

The African Union warned Sunday against the break-up of the Democratic Republic of Congo, two days after the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group entered a second city in the country’s east. … UN chief Antonio Guterres warned on Saturday that a “regional escalation must be avoided at all costs.”

Scores of children caught up in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been subjected to sexual violence including rape by armed men, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. The targeting of children has soared to unprecedented levels in recent weeks, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell warned on Thursday, … .

The United Arab Emirates called on Tuesday for a ceasefire in Sudan during the coming holy month of Ramadan, a UAE official said, a call rejected by the Sudanese army, … . The army considers the UAE to be an aggressor of the war, accusing it of arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, accusations U.N. experts and U.S. lawmakers have said are credible.

South Africa has sent additional troops and military equipment to Democratic Republic of Congo in recent days, political and diplomatic sources said, after 14 of its soldiers were killed in fighting with Rwanda-backed rebels last month. … South Africa is believed to have around 3,000 troops deployed in Congo, both as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission and a Southern African regional force tasked with helping Congo's army combat the M23 insurgency.

A summit of African leaders meeting to address the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday called for an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" within five days.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Friday expressed profound concerns at the ongoing violent escalation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) caused by the ongoing Rwanda-backed M23 offensive. “If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country’s borders,” he told a Special Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Continued clashes in South Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are triggering mass displacement and causing civilian casualties, UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA said on Friday.  Escalating fighting between M23 rebels and Congolese troops has caused thousands of people to flee, with many heading towards the provincial capital, Bukavu – where UN humanitarian agencies in the east are now located following the fall of Goma.

[…] The Malawian troops are part of the southern African regional bloc's military mission (SAMIDRC) deployed to DR Congo to help tackle armed groups. At least 20 peacekeepers, including 14 South Africans and three Malawians, were killed as the M23 rebels captured the key city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, last week.

A senior U.N. official in the Democratic Republic of Congo said Wednesday that nearly 3,000 people have been killed in a fighting between M23 militants and the national army over control of a key eastern city.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels continued to consolidate their hold over North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Wednesday, despite declaring a ceasefire two days earlier and pledging not to continue south, according to the UN’s Deputy Special Representative for Protection and Operations in the country. … Amid mounting insecurity, MONUSCO has ceased joint operations with Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and withdrawn from South Kivu, following Security Council mandates.