Uvira, 12 June 2012 - In Uvira, a small town snaking its way between Lake Tanganyika and the towering mountains of the Great Rift Valley in South Kivu, eighteen colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors and a captain appeared before a mobile court of the DRC military justice system. Thirteen of them were found guilty of rebellion in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "This trial sent a strong signal across the country that members of…
Bunia, 27 April 2012 – The commander of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) General Chander Prakash presided over a medal award ceremony during which medals were awarded to the Bangladeshi peacekeepers serving in the air force contingent and to the UN military observers based in Ituri. The ceremony took place on Saturday 27 April 2012 in Bunia. Altogether, 365 peacekeepers from different…
On 28 November 2011, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) held its second presidential and parliamentary elections since the end of the Transition Period in 2006. These elections, intended to be calm, transparent and illustrative of the country’s democratic progress, took place in an atmosphere of high tension, interspersed with acts of political intolerance and violence that claimed many lives. Between the 29 November 2011 and 20 January…
Uvira, 23 April 2012 - The United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) turned over an elementary school named Maendeleo to the delegate of the students' parents in Kiliba, territory of Uvira, in an official ceremony. Roughly $ 18,000 were contributed by MONUSCO Quick Impact Project to complete the project placed under the supervision of its child protection section office in Uvira and a Non-Government…
Matadi, 18 May 2012 - On the night of 17 to 18 May, 24 inmates escaped from Tshela prison, 210 km west of Matadi, the capital of Bas-Congo province. Earlier in the week, on 16 May, detainees refused to return to their dorms, a gesture meant to express their anger with the lack of food in the prison. The situation has now returned to normal after the intervention of the Congolese National Police (PNC) and elements of the National Armed Forces…
Kisangani – 25 May 2012 – The United Nations Police (UNPOL) held, on 24 May 2012, a day-long training workshop for some 32 Congolese National Police (officers) to strengthen their ability to better protect civilian populations. Organized around the theme of "Collaboration between UNPOL and PNC for population protection", the workshop aimed at building in these police officers a sense of what is appropriate behaviour in dealing with the population…
Goma, 29 May 2012 – Over 200 people representing the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), local civil society groups, the Congolese National Police, political and economic actors, as well as an important number of journalists met in Goma on 24 May to share information regarding the situation of armed conflicts currently prevailing in Nord-Kivu province. In his opening remarks, the head…
GENEVA, 31 May 2012 – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday expressed alarm at the significant increase in large-scale atrocities by armed groups in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo – including killings, rape, and the looting and burning of entire villages – and called for urgent action by the Government to stop further violence and ensure justice for the victims. UN human rights officers in the DRC* have…
By Hervé Ladsous* There is an African saying that "One hand cannot tie a bundle". Very few proverbs describe the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations so well. The success of a peacekeeping mission requires the participation of so many hands: those of the Security Council which approves it, those of troop and resource-contributing countries and those of the host country. Peacekeeping is a global partnership at the centre of which…
Uvira, 7 March 2012 – Field engineers from the Chinese battalion of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) have been rehabilitating the 135 kilometres of road stretching from Baraka through Fizi to Minembwe. On 29 February last, a 33 km stretch of newly rehabilitated road was handed over to Congolese authorities. On 6 March, Chinese field engineers were ordered to begin the second phase…