(AFP) – Beheadings, mass graves, kidnapped foreigners, child soldiers: a tribal insurrection in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasai region has killed hundreds of people and risks further destabilising the fragile central government. Congolese officials face growing international pressure to curb the violence, while the UN Security Council prepares to vote on Friday to cut down its […]
(Human Rights Watch) – The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUSCO, confirmed on March 28, 2017, that the bodies of Zaida Catalán, a Swede, and Michael Sharp, an American, were found by UN peacekeepers near Bunkonde in Kasai Central province on March 27. The two members of the UN Group of Experts […]
(Deutsche Welle) – US military operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army in central Africa are “coming to an end,” a top American general said on Friday, even though its brutal leader Joseph Kony has not been captured. “This operation, although not achieving the ability to get to Kony himself, has essentially taken that group off the battlefield,” […]
(International Business Times) – Two disturbing new videos have emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that appear to show members of the armed forces targeting unarmed civilians, including children, in the restive Kasaï region. Kasaï, in the heart of the DRC, has been plagued by violence between the Congolese security forces and a local […]
(The New York Times) – Seven Congolese Army officers have been arrested and charged with war crimes after a video surfaced last month that appeared to show uniformed soldiers opening fire on a group of civilians in a massacre that left at least 13 people dead, the military’s auditor general said on Saturday. The video depicts […]
(AP) – A network of organizations seeking to protect children in conflict urged U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday to add 11 parties to the blacklist of countries and armed groups responsible for grave violations against children. The Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict’s recommended additions included the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen, which was taken off […]
(Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission) – Thank you to the co-chairs of the Lantos Human Rights Commission for holding this important briefing. It’s a pleasure to be here with my friend and collaborator, General Romeo Dallaire. I’ve worked on the issue of child soldiers for nearly 20 years, and during that time have seen both positive […]
(MONUSCO) – MONUSCO is concerned about the persistent conflict in the Kasais which is marked by violent atrocities committed by the Kamuina Nsapu militia including their recruitment and use of child soldiers whilst targeting symbols and institutions of State authority as well as the disproportionate use of force by the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique […]
