Democratic Republic of the Congo

A team of UN experts reports a decrease in violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasai region and they say a change in governing authorities may present an opening for peace and reconciliation in the troubled region. The team has presented a report Wednesday on the current situation in Kasai to the UN Human Rights Council.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday, found former Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda guilty “beyond reasonable doubt”, of 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, in the volatile Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), between 2002 and 2003.

President Felix Tshisekedi described interethnic bloodshed in DRC's northeast as "attempted genocide" after scores of people were killed and tens of thousands displaced. The leader of the Democratic Republic of the Congo said the violence appeared to be a "plot" and vowed to "find out the truth" about who was behind the deadly unrest.

With civilians fleeing a spate of inter-ethnic violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday extended its arms embargo, asset freeze and a travel ban on the country until July 2020.

The United Nations refugee agency reports around 7,500 Congolese refugees have fled to Uganda this month to escape escalating inter-ethnic violence.

In March, the United Nations Security Council called for a “strategic review” of the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). Part of this review is to include a well-articulated possible exit strategy for the mission. What remains to be seen is whether the Security Council will decide that the strategy is sound and should be implemented, or that MONUSCO should remain functioning with some changes.

More than 300,000 people have been forced to flee resurgent inter-ethnic violence in north-east Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) just this month, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday. Citing multiple attacks and counter-attacks between Hema herders and Lendu farmers, UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch told journalists in Geneva that the situation had worsened in recent days.

At least 161 people have been killed in a northeastern province of Democratic Republic of Congo in the past week, local officials said on Monday, in an apparent resurgence of ethnic clashes between farming and herding communities.

Veteran Algerian diplomat Said Djinnit recently stepped down as United Nations Special Envoy to the Great Lakes (UNSEGL). PSC Report asked him about the situation in the region and the role of African Union (AU) institutions such as the Peace and Security Council and regional economic communities.