news

DRC

Followers

Showing posts with label DRC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DRC. Show all posts

How DR Congo police arrest sect leader after deadly raid ?

How DR Congo police arrest sect leader after deadly raid ?

Kinshasa (AFP) - The self-styled prophet of a separatist sect blamed for deadly attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been arrested in a raid on his home in Kinshasa involving hundreds of security forces.

"Mission accomplished," a police tweet said, after troops stormed the home of former MP Ne Muanda Nsemi, who heads the Bundu Dia Kongo (BDK) sect, following an hours-long siege on Friday.

A police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several BDK members were found in the house and added that an undisclosed number of people had died in the raid.

An interior ministry statement said at least eight people were killed and another 35 injured, without giving details. A total of 168 were arrested, according to the statement.

Police said that eight officers were seriously injured in the raid, suggesting that the fatalities were all sect members.

An eyewitness told AFP he had seen 15 bodies after the police action, and many more injured.

Nsemi, who is aged around 70, was taken to hospital with a head injury before being handed over to prosecutors.

Police condemned some members of the security forces for looting belongings from the property after the raid, saying in a statement that the perpetrators would be punished.

The BDK aims to revive the pre-colonial Kongo kingdom that included what are today parts of neighbouring Angola, the Republic of Congo and Gabon, and has repeatedly fought with security forces.

Since April 13, about 20 sect members and police have been killed in three separate clashes on a key highway in the Kongo Central province that neighbours Kinshasa.

The route is vital as it links Kinshasa, home to some 10 million people, to the ports of Matadi and Moanda.

At the end of March, police dispersed several BDK members in Kinshasa for defying a ban on gatherings of more than 20 people imposed to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Nsemi, a former chemistry teacher, was detained in 2017 for inciting tribal hatred but later escaped from prison during a brazen pre-dawn raid.

He spent two years on the run before being re-arrested days after making a public appearance this week on television.

He re-entered political life in 2019 following the election of president Felix Tshisekedi, and in January proclaimed himself president of the DR Congo in a "divine coup".

Dozens of armed groups and militias operate in the DR Congo, many in the east of the country, a legacy of the two Congo wars in the 1990s that dragged in the country's neighbours Uganda and Rwanda.



Source
Kinshasa (AFP) - The self-styled prophet of a separatist sect blamed for deadly attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been arrested in a raid on his home in Kinshasa involving hundreds of security forces.

"Mission accomplished," a police tweet said, after troops stormed the home of former MP Ne Muanda Nsemi, who heads the Bundu Dia Kongo (BDK) sect, following an hours-long siege on Friday.

A police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several BDK members were found in the house and added that an undisclosed number of people had died in the raid.

An interior ministry statement said at least eight people were killed and another 35 injured, without giving details. A total of 168 were arrested, according to the statement.

Police said that eight officers were seriously injured in the raid, suggesting that the fatalities were all sect members.

An eyewitness told AFP he had seen 15 bodies after the police action, and many more injured.

Nsemi, who is aged around 70, was taken to hospital with a head injury before being handed over to prosecutors.

Police condemned some members of the security forces for looting belongings from the property after the raid, saying in a statement that the perpetrators would be punished.

The BDK aims to revive the pre-colonial Kongo kingdom that included what are today parts of neighbouring Angola, the Republic of Congo and Gabon, and has repeatedly fought with security forces.

Since April 13, about 20 sect members and police have been killed in three separate clashes on a key highway in the Kongo Central province that neighbours Kinshasa.

The route is vital as it links Kinshasa, home to some 10 million people, to the ports of Matadi and Moanda.

At the end of March, police dispersed several BDK members in Kinshasa for defying a ban on gatherings of more than 20 people imposed to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Nsemi, a former chemistry teacher, was detained in 2017 for inciting tribal hatred but later escaped from prison during a brazen pre-dawn raid.

He spent two years on the run before being re-arrested days after making a public appearance this week on television.

He re-entered political life in 2019 following the election of president Felix Tshisekedi, and in January proclaimed himself president of the DR Congo in a "divine coup".

Dozens of armed groups and militias operate in the DR Congo, many in the east of the country, a legacy of the two Congo wars in the 1990s that dragged in the country's neighbours Uganda and Rwanda.



Source

At least 46 killed in eastern DR Congo floods, local officials say

At least 46 killed in eastern DR Congo floods, local officials say

@AFP
#BREAKING 46 killed in eastern DR Congo floods, local officials say
@AFP
#BREAKING 46 killed in eastern DR Congo floods, local officials say

How Four African countries, including Nigeria are ‘particularly vulnerable’ to COVID-19 - Report

How Four African countries, including Nigeria are ‘particularly vulnerable’ to COVID-19 - Report

Cape Town — South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Sudan are particularly vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19, says a new survey of factors contributing to the risks which the pandemic poses to African nations.

The seven countries of Cameroon, Ethiopia, Chad, Somalia, Uganda, Egypt and the Central African Republic are the next most vulnerable, according to research done by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, DC, a research institution within the United States Department of Defense.

It is worth noting that the top four countries named by the survey as most vulnerable to COVID-19 are all dealing with intransigent conflicts, as are most of the next seven most vulnerable. For years, African scholars and peace advocates have been calling attention to the link between violent conflict and social inequities, and the same combination of factors favors the spread of diseases.

Paralleling the conclusions of African peacebuilding researchers, the survey says that one of nine risk factors – conflict magnitude – magnifies the other risks:

Armed conflict disrupts public health systems in affected areas and limits access to basic goods like food, water, and medical supplies.

The degree of intensity and geographic spread of conflict shapes the level of disruption caused for a society.

Conflict-affected populations are also often starting from higher levels of vulnerability with fewer resource buffers than other populations, making the impact of exposure to an infectious disease all the more severe.

The center’s study evaluates the vulnerability of each of the continent’s nations in nine risk categories: international exposure, the strength of their public health systems, the density of their urban areas, the total population in urban areas, the age of the population, the transparency of their governments, the press freedom they enjoy, levels of conflict and the numbers of displaced people.The other eight risks identified are international exposures, health system weaknesses, urban density, size of urban populations, population age, transparency of governance, press freedom and numbers of displaced peoples.

The risks which the most vulnerable countries face highlights “the importance of trying to identify and limit the spread of the SARS-CoV2 (corona) virus at the early stages, before it becomes entrenched in the high density urban or displaced person areas”, the center says.

Three of the most vulnerable countries – Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and South Sudan – have made potentially significant progress at conflict resolution, or have had successes despite ongoing conflict. The victory against an Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo this year, despite militia activity that killed both United Nations peacekeepers and health workers, was regarded as remarkable among both political and medical analysts. South Sudan negotiated peace between competing armies for control of the government, and ‘people power’ in Sudan toppled a long-lived despotic ruler who had been convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

The survey says that the limited exposure of the three countries to international travellers gives them “a brief window to ramp up containment measures”. The hope of reformers and peace activists is that the same popular determination and courageous actions by Africans in each of those nations can be brought to the efforts against COVID-19. Only Nigeria – of the most at-risk countries – has had high rates of international travel. The majority of Nigeria’s identified cases so far were brought across borders by international travelers or Nigerians returning from abroad, or were among people who were exposed to them, who were found through contact tracing.

Key to efforts at containment, says the survey, “will be enhanced and transparent public communications regarding COVID-19, public health guidance, and candid information about what the government is doing and what individuals should do if they exhibit symptoms. For some of these countries, given their constricted space for sharing information, this will require significantly improved levels of transparency and space for independent media.”

Turning to the seven countries next most vulnerable, the center says they, also, among the African countries with less international exposure. But they need to mitigate areas of risk and draw on areas of strength.

The study says that, initially, international exposure, the size of urban populations and a nation’s capacity to test for the virus will determine the number of cases which are reported. It adds that “subsequent stages [in the spread of the virus] are likely to also exploit other vulnerabilities such as weak health systems, densities of urban populations, conflict, size of displaced populations, trust in government, and openness of communications channels”.

The center points to the fact that the number of cases reported, as opposed to the actual numbers of people infected, will depend on the strength of a country’s public health system. “In fact,” it says, “cases of the coronavirus may be widespread elsewhere, though they are not identified and reported.”

Looking beyond nations with relatively higher numbers of reported cases, it says that despite not having Africa’s largest urban populations, countries in the Sahel and Great Lakes regions “appear to be at high risk for severe outbreaks”. It urges that attention be given in those countries to densely- populated cities and towns, to supporting public health systems and being transparent with the public.

” However, each country faces a unique mix of vulnerabilities that will require a customized response.”

” Much remains unknown about the trajectory of the transmission of COVID-19 in Africa. Many fear that with its high levels of poverty, weak health systems, and crowded urban areas, the virus could be particularly devastating. Others hope that with its warmer climate, youthful population, and experience fighting infectious disease, that Africa will be able to avoid the worst of the pandemic.”

” African urban areas are often remarkably densely populated, creating conditions where viruses can spread quickly and undetected in crowded informal settlements. Urban density is characteristic even of relatively sparsely populated countries in the Sahel, where the concentration of human settlements in capital cities creates high levels of vulnerability. A similar pattern is seen in South Sudan, where inhabited areas average 8,730 people per square kilometer. Urban layouts and architectures in these locations are similar to the compacted towns of Spain and Italy, where the virus has hit Europe the hardest to date.”

” Built-up areas across much of Africa have higher population densities than those in Europe and the United States. Influenza transmission rates in India have been found to increase above a population density of 282 people per square kilometer. The density of many built-up areas in Africa is over five times this threshold.”

” Stay-at-home orders will be particularly difficult to maintain in African cities where many residents lack adequate shelter, sanitation, and the monetary means to stock up on supplies and to stop work.”

” Approximately 80 percent of COVID-19 fatalities have been among people over the age of 60. With 70 percent of Africa’s population under the age of 30, Africa’s youth bulge may be a buffer against the most devastating human costs of the disease on the continent.”
” The benefits of a more youthful population, however, will need to be balanced against other underlying health factors facing many African populations such as malaria, malnutrition, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS.”

” Refugees and internally displaced populations may be congregated in large camps with inadequate access to water, soap, or sanitation. Health services are often overstretched and inaccessible. The close quarters typical of such settlements greatly facilitates the spread of any infection once it is introduced. Eighty-five percent of Africa’s 25 million forcibly displaced persons are concentrated in 8 countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Cameroon.”

Cape Town — South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Sudan are particularly vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19, says a new survey of factors contributing to the risks which the pandemic poses to African nations.

The seven countries of Cameroon, Ethiopia, Chad, Somalia, Uganda, Egypt and the Central African Republic are the next most vulnerable, according to research done by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, DC, a research institution within the United States Department of Defense.

It is worth noting that the top four countries named by the survey as most vulnerable to COVID-19 are all dealing with intransigent conflicts, as are most of the next seven most vulnerable. For years, African scholars and peace advocates have been calling attention to the link between violent conflict and social inequities, and the same combination of factors favors the spread of diseases.

Paralleling the conclusions of African peacebuilding researchers, the survey says that one of nine risk factors – conflict magnitude – magnifies the other risks:

Armed conflict disrupts public health systems in affected areas and limits access to basic goods like food, water, and medical supplies.

The degree of intensity and geographic spread of conflict shapes the level of disruption caused for a society.

Conflict-affected populations are also often starting from higher levels of vulnerability with fewer resource buffers than other populations, making the impact of exposure to an infectious disease all the more severe.

The center’s study evaluates the vulnerability of each of the continent’s nations in nine risk categories: international exposure, the strength of their public health systems, the density of their urban areas, the total population in urban areas, the age of the population, the transparency of their governments, the press freedom they enjoy, levels of conflict and the numbers of displaced people.The other eight risks identified are international exposures, health system weaknesses, urban density, size of urban populations, population age, transparency of governance, press freedom and numbers of displaced peoples.

The risks which the most vulnerable countries face highlights “the importance of trying to identify and limit the spread of the SARS-CoV2 (corona) virus at the early stages, before it becomes entrenched in the high density urban or displaced person areas”, the center says.

Three of the most vulnerable countries – Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and South Sudan – have made potentially significant progress at conflict resolution, or have had successes despite ongoing conflict. The victory against an Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo this year, despite militia activity that killed both United Nations peacekeepers and health workers, was regarded as remarkable among both political and medical analysts. South Sudan negotiated peace between competing armies for control of the government, and ‘people power’ in Sudan toppled a long-lived despotic ruler who had been convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

The survey says that the limited exposure of the three countries to international travellers gives them “a brief window to ramp up containment measures”. The hope of reformers and peace activists is that the same popular determination and courageous actions by Africans in each of those nations can be brought to the efforts against COVID-19. Only Nigeria – of the most at-risk countries – has had high rates of international travel. The majority of Nigeria’s identified cases so far were brought across borders by international travelers or Nigerians returning from abroad, or were among people who were exposed to them, who were found through contact tracing.

Key to efforts at containment, says the survey, “will be enhanced and transparent public communications regarding COVID-19, public health guidance, and candid information about what the government is doing and what individuals should do if they exhibit symptoms. For some of these countries, given their constricted space for sharing information, this will require significantly improved levels of transparency and space for independent media.”

Turning to the seven countries next most vulnerable, the center says they, also, among the African countries with less international exposure. But they need to mitigate areas of risk and draw on areas of strength.

The study says that, initially, international exposure, the size of urban populations and a nation’s capacity to test for the virus will determine the number of cases which are reported. It adds that “subsequent stages [in the spread of the virus] are likely to also exploit other vulnerabilities such as weak health systems, densities of urban populations, conflict, size of displaced populations, trust in government, and openness of communications channels”.

The center points to the fact that the number of cases reported, as opposed to the actual numbers of people infected, will depend on the strength of a country’s public health system. “In fact,” it says, “cases of the coronavirus may be widespread elsewhere, though they are not identified and reported.”

Looking beyond nations with relatively higher numbers of reported cases, it says that despite not having Africa’s largest urban populations, countries in the Sahel and Great Lakes regions “appear to be at high risk for severe outbreaks”. It urges that attention be given in those countries to densely- populated cities and towns, to supporting public health systems and being transparent with the public.

” However, each country faces a unique mix of vulnerabilities that will require a customized response.”

” Much remains unknown about the trajectory of the transmission of COVID-19 in Africa. Many fear that with its high levels of poverty, weak health systems, and crowded urban areas, the virus could be particularly devastating. Others hope that with its warmer climate, youthful population, and experience fighting infectious disease, that Africa will be able to avoid the worst of the pandemic.”

” African urban areas are often remarkably densely populated, creating conditions where viruses can spread quickly and undetected in crowded informal settlements. Urban density is characteristic even of relatively sparsely populated countries in the Sahel, where the concentration of human settlements in capital cities creates high levels of vulnerability. A similar pattern is seen in South Sudan, where inhabited areas average 8,730 people per square kilometer. Urban layouts and architectures in these locations are similar to the compacted towns of Spain and Italy, where the virus has hit Europe the hardest to date.”

” Built-up areas across much of Africa have higher population densities than those in Europe and the United States. Influenza transmission rates in India have been found to increase above a population density of 282 people per square kilometer. The density of many built-up areas in Africa is over five times this threshold.”

” Stay-at-home orders will be particularly difficult to maintain in African cities where many residents lack adequate shelter, sanitation, and the monetary means to stock up on supplies and to stop work.”

” Approximately 80 percent of COVID-19 fatalities have been among people over the age of 60. With 70 percent of Africa’s population under the age of 30, Africa’s youth bulge may be a buffer against the most devastating human costs of the disease on the continent.”
” The benefits of a more youthful population, however, will need to be balanced against other underlying health factors facing many African populations such as malaria, malnutrition, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS.”

” Refugees and internally displaced populations may be congregated in large camps with inadequate access to water, soap, or sanitation. Health services are often overstretched and inaccessible. The close quarters typical of such settlements greatly facilitates the spread of any infection once it is introduced. Eighty-five percent of Africa’s 25 million forcibly displaced persons are concentrated in 8 countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Cameroon.”

COVID-19: Jacques Joaquim Yhombi Opango , Congo ex-president dies of Virus in France

COVID-19: Jacques Joaquim Yhombi Opango , Congo ex-president dies of Virus in France

By AFP

Former Republic of Congo president Jacques Joaquim Yhombi Opango succumbed to coronavirus on Monday in France, his family told AFP.


Yhombi Opango, who led Congo-Brazzaville from 1977 until he was toppled in 1979, died at a Paris hospital, his son Jean-Jacques said. He has dies at the age of 81. According to his son, Yhombi Opango had been ill before he contracted the virus.


Born in 1939 in Congo’s northern Cuvette region, Yhombi Opango was an army officer who rose to power after the assassination of president Marien Ngouabi. 

The troubled, oil-rich former French colony was aligned with the Soviet Union during Ngouabi’s 1968-77 rule.


Yhombi Opango was ousted by longtime ruler Denis Sassou Nguesso.
By AFP

Former Republic of Congo president Jacques Joaquim Yhombi Opango succumbed to coronavirus on Monday in France, his family told AFP.


Yhombi Opango, who led Congo-Brazzaville from 1977 until he was toppled in 1979, died at a Paris hospital, his son Jean-Jacques said. He has dies at the age of 81. According to his son, Yhombi Opango had been ill before he contracted the virus.


Born in 1939 in Congo’s northern Cuvette region, Yhombi Opango was an army officer who rose to power after the assassination of president Marien Ngouabi. 

The troubled, oil-rich former French colony was aligned with the Soviet Union during Ngouabi’s 1968-77 rule.


Yhombi Opango was ousted by longtime ruler Denis Sassou Nguesso.

Ten dead in massacre in eastern DR Congo's Beni region: local sources

Ten dead in massacre in eastern DR Congo's Beni region: local sources

Ten people were killed in an attack late Monday in the eastern DR Congo region of Beni, where a notorious militia has killed hundreds since October, a local official and a military officer said. According to an AFP report.

Hundreds of people were fleeing the area on Tuesday after the assault, by foot, motorcycle and truck, an AFPTV reporter said.

"Eight civilians, an intelligence agent and a soldier" were killed in the attack on the village of Manzahalo, local leader John Kambale told AFP on Tuesday.

Ten houses were burned down.

The toll was confirmed by a military officer, who blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia.


The ADF began as an Islamist-rooted rebel group in Uganda that opposed President Yoweri Museveni.

It originally operated in Uganda but fell back to North Kivu, DR Congo's border province with Uganda, during the Congo Wars of the 1990s.

The militia appears to have halted raids inside Uganda and its recruits today are of various nationalities.

Already blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths in Beni since 2014, the group embarked on a series of massacres after the army launched a crackdown in October.

The Congolese army says it has taken the ADF's headquarters and that five out of the group's six senior commanders have been killed.

The UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO last Wednesday reported that Congolese troops had captured 40 ADF men.

Despite these reported successes, "the massacres have been continuing at a frenzied rate in Beni," according to the Kivu Security Tracker (KST), an NGO that monitors human rights violations in eastern DR Congo.

A total of 393 people have died since the end of October, many of them hacked to death, according to its toll.

It also says, quoting a source speaking on anonymity, that nearly 300 troops have been killed.

The ADF is one of numerous militias which plague the area -- a legacy of two wars that dragged the Democratic Republic of Congo's neighbours into a regional conflict.

ah-st/bmb/ri/txw
Ten people were killed in an attack late Monday in the eastern DR Congo region of Beni, where a notorious militia has killed hundreds since October, a local official and a military officer said. According to an AFP report.

Hundreds of people were fleeing the area on Tuesday after the assault, by foot, motorcycle and truck, an AFPTV reporter said.

"Eight civilians, an intelligence agent and a soldier" were killed in the attack on the village of Manzahalo, local leader John Kambale told AFP on Tuesday.

Ten houses were burned down.

The toll was confirmed by a military officer, who blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia.


The ADF began as an Islamist-rooted rebel group in Uganda that opposed President Yoweri Museveni.

It originally operated in Uganda but fell back to North Kivu, DR Congo's border province with Uganda, during the Congo Wars of the 1990s.

The militia appears to have halted raids inside Uganda and its recruits today are of various nationalities.

Already blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths in Beni since 2014, the group embarked on a series of massacres after the army launched a crackdown in October.

The Congolese army says it has taken the ADF's headquarters and that five out of the group's six senior commanders have been killed.

The UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO last Wednesday reported that Congolese troops had captured 40 ADF men.

Despite these reported successes, "the massacres have been continuing at a frenzied rate in Beni," according to the Kivu Security Tracker (KST), an NGO that monitors human rights violations in eastern DR Congo.

A total of 393 people have died since the end of October, many of them hacked to death, according to its toll.

It also says, quoting a source speaking on anonymity, that nearly 300 troops have been killed.

The ADF is one of numerous militias which plague the area -- a legacy of two wars that dragged the Democratic Republic of Congo's neighbours into a regional conflict.

ah-st/bmb/ri/txw

World Health Organisation (WHO) extends health emergency over Ebola outbreak in DR Congo

World Health Organisation (WHO) extends health emergency over Ebola outbreak in DR Congo

Geneva (AFP) - The UN health agency on Wednesday said it was extending its global emergency designation for the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo but said the sharp decline in cases was "extremely positive".

The recent outbreak was first identified in August 2018 and has since killed more than 2,300 people in eastern DR Congo -- an area where several militia groups are operating.

"As long as there is a single case of Ebola in an area as insecure and unstable as eastern DRC, the potential remains for a much larger epidemic," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

The WHO, however, said it was downgrading the national and regional risk of the disease from very high to high, while it kept the global risk at low.

Tedros also voiced hope that the emergency could be lifted within the next three months on the advice of the WHO's Emergency Committee of international experts.

The World Health Organization last July declared it a "public health emergency of international concern" -- a designation that gives the WHO greater powers to restrict travel and boost funding.

Tedros, who will be travelling to DRC on Thursday to meet President Felix Tshisekedi, on Tuesday said only three cases had been reported in the past week.

But for the epidemic to be declared over, there have to be no new cases reported for 42 days -- double the incubation period.

The health emergency designation last year came a few days after a patient was diagnosed with the virus in the provincial capital Goma -- the first case in a major urban hub.

More than a month before that, the WHO reported that the virus had spread to Uganda for the first time.

The Ebola virus is passed on by contact with the blood, body fluids, secretions or organs of an infected or recently deceased person.

The death rate is typically high, ranging up to 90 percent in some outbreaks, according to the WHO.

This is the second worst outbreak of the disease since 2014 when it killed about 11,000 people -- mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Read More

Geneva (AFP) - The UN health agency on Wednesday said it was extending its global emergency designation for the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo but said the sharp decline in cases was "extremely positive".

The recent outbreak was first identified in August 2018 and has since killed more than 2,300 people in eastern DR Congo -- an area where several militia groups are operating.

"As long as there is a single case of Ebola in an area as insecure and unstable as eastern DRC, the potential remains for a much larger epidemic," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

The WHO, however, said it was downgrading the national and regional risk of the disease from very high to high, while it kept the global risk at low.

Tedros also voiced hope that the emergency could be lifted within the next three months on the advice of the WHO's Emergency Committee of international experts.

The World Health Organization last July declared it a "public health emergency of international concern" -- a designation that gives the WHO greater powers to restrict travel and boost funding.

Tedros, who will be travelling to DRC on Thursday to meet President Felix Tshisekedi, on Tuesday said only three cases had been reported in the past week.

But for the epidemic to be declared over, there have to be no new cases reported for 42 days -- double the incubation period.

The health emergency designation last year came a few days after a patient was diagnosed with the virus in the provincial capital Goma -- the first case in a major urban hub.

More than a month before that, the WHO reported that the virus had spread to Uganda for the first time.

The Ebola virus is passed on by contact with the blood, body fluids, secretions or organs of an infected or recently deceased person.

The death rate is typically high, ranging up to 90 percent in some outbreaks, according to the WHO.

This is the second worst outbreak of the disease since 2014 when it killed about 11,000 people -- mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Read More

At least 36 killed in suspected militia massacre in east DR Congo

At least 36 killed in suspected militia massacre in east DR Congo

Profile Picture
Oicha (DR Congo) (AFP) - Thirty-six people have been killed in a suspected militia attack in the eastern DR Congo region of Beni, where hundreds have died in violence since November, a local official said Wednesday.

Congolese troops have been carrying out a military operation on an armed group in the east of the country -- long plagued by various militias -- and militiamen have responded with a series of massacres against civilians.

"They were all hacked to death. This brings (the toll) to 36 bodies," local Beni governor Donat Kibwana told AFP, updating casualties from Tuesday's attack.

Officials had earlier reported 15 fatalities.

Two people with skull fractures caused by machetes have been admitted to the hospital in Oicha for surgery, an AFP reporter there said.

The main attack took place late Tuesday in Manzingi, a village 20 kilometres (12 miles) northwest from Oicha, while a pastor was also killed in nearby Eringeti.

According to a toll compiled by a civil society organisation, the Kivu Security Tracker (KST), 265 people have now been killed in the Beni region since the army began its crackdown on the armed group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), on October 30.

The massacres seem to be a tactic by the ADF to frighten the population into silence, local commentators say.

The group has also disrupted operations to curb an outbreak of Ebola in North Kivu province.

Tuesday's massacre occurred to the west of the ADF's usual area of operations, which is closer to the Ugandan border.

The army offensive, unfolding in thick forest and jungle, has led to what the military say is the capture of the group's headquarters and the killing of five of its six leaders.

- Brutal militia -

The ADF, blamed for the deaths of more than a thousand civilians in Beni since October 2014, began as an Islamist-rooted rebel group in Uganda that opposed Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

It fell back into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 1995 during the Congo Wars and appears to have halted raids inside Uganda. Its recruits today are people of various nationalities.

UN experts estimated the ADF in 2018 to number around 450 fighters.

A report to the UN Security Council last week said the ADF seemed to follow an extreme Islamist ideology, but there is no information on whether the group had links with international jihadist groups.

The spate of massacres has become a major challenge for President Felix Tshisekedi, who took office a year ago last Friday.

In November, angry protests erupted in the city of Beni, the region's administrative hub, as citizens accused the UN peacekeeping force in DR Congo of failing to protect them.

Tshisekedi, in his first state-of-the-nation address to Congress, last month said he had changed the army command in Beni and sent 22,000 troops to the region.

Profile Picture
Oicha (DR Congo) (AFP) - Thirty-six people have been killed in a suspected militia attack in the eastern DR Congo region of Beni, where hundreds have died in violence since November, a local official said Wednesday.

Congolese troops have been carrying out a military operation on an armed group in the east of the country -- long plagued by various militias -- and militiamen have responded with a series of massacres against civilians.

"They were all hacked to death. This brings (the toll) to 36 bodies," local Beni governor Donat Kibwana told AFP, updating casualties from Tuesday's attack.

Officials had earlier reported 15 fatalities.

Two people with skull fractures caused by machetes have been admitted to the hospital in Oicha for surgery, an AFP reporter there said.

The main attack took place late Tuesday in Manzingi, a village 20 kilometres (12 miles) northwest from Oicha, while a pastor was also killed in nearby Eringeti.

According to a toll compiled by a civil society organisation, the Kivu Security Tracker (KST), 265 people have now been killed in the Beni region since the army began its crackdown on the armed group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), on October 30.

The massacres seem to be a tactic by the ADF to frighten the population into silence, local commentators say.

The group has also disrupted operations to curb an outbreak of Ebola in North Kivu province.

Tuesday's massacre occurred to the west of the ADF's usual area of operations, which is closer to the Ugandan border.

The army offensive, unfolding in thick forest and jungle, has led to what the military say is the capture of the group's headquarters and the killing of five of its six leaders.

- Brutal militia -

The ADF, blamed for the deaths of more than a thousand civilians in Beni since October 2014, began as an Islamist-rooted rebel group in Uganda that opposed Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

It fell back into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 1995 during the Congo Wars and appears to have halted raids inside Uganda. Its recruits today are people of various nationalities.

UN experts estimated the ADF in 2018 to number around 450 fighters.

A report to the UN Security Council last week said the ADF seemed to follow an extreme Islamist ideology, but there is no information on whether the group had links with international jihadist groups.

The spate of massacres has become a major challenge for President Felix Tshisekedi, who took office a year ago last Friday.

In November, angry protests erupted in the city of Beni, the region's administrative hub, as citizens accused the UN peacekeeping force in DR Congo of failing to protect them.

Tshisekedi, in his first state-of-the-nation address to Congress, last month said he had changed the army command in Beni and sent 22,000 troops to the region.

Poster Speaks

Poster Speaks/box

Trending

randomposts