Demokratische Republik Kongo

Planning for a drawdown of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is well underway, but much work still remains to be done to put the country firmly on the path to long-term stability and sustainable development, the Security Council heard today.

UNICEF on Wednesday became the third UN agency to launch an internal inquiry into sexual abuse of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), promising "serious consequences" for any culprits.

[…] This mini-summit was planned in particular to promote a common response to the problems of insecurity in eastern DR Congo.

United Nations peacekeepers on Wednesday resumed protection of Congo’s Nobel Prize Laureate Denis Mukwege, who received death threats in recent weeks after he called for justice over serious human rights violations.

The UN refugee agency warns that renewed violence and tensions in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasai province could trigger a new wave of mass displacement. More than 24,000 people in troubled Kasai province have fled violent attacks and gross human rights atrocities in the past month.

Militia attacks in DR Congo’s volatile east disrupted the start of school final exams Monday with hundreds of students fleeing violence and some girls raped by the attackers, officials said.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has condemned death threats made against Congolese Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege and called for his protection. Dr. Mukwege is best known for helping thousands of women victims of sexual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Islamist militants killed at least 20 people during attacks on three villages in eastern Congo, the army and a local administrator said. … The killings come just three days after a similar raid that left 13 dead.

A new military agreement has underscored a budding friendship between the US and DR Congo, alongside speculation about the establishment of a US command center. But experts say it's too soon to draw conclusions.