News | Militias
| New Law Aims to Halt Sale of Conflict Minerals | |
Heather Murdock | VOA News - April 18, 2011 | |
 | In the Congolese countryside, there is said to be $24 trillion worth of precious minerals like tantalum, tungsten, gold and tin. They are used to make everything from light bulbs to airplanes, and have long funded the conflict in the country’s tumultuous eastern provinces. |
| Plight of the Congo Is Focus of U.S. Congress Hearing | |
chrissmith.house.gov - March 8, 2011 | |
 | The tragedy and hopes for peace in the Congo was the focus of a hearing held today by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House Africa, Global Health and Human Rights Subcommittee. Actor Ben Affleck testified about the work of the Eastern Congo Initiative, including his travel to the DRC. |
| US President Barack Obama outlines plan to defeat Ugandan LRA rebels | |
BBC News - November 25, 2010 | |
 | US President Barack Obama has outlined a plan to disarm one of Africa's most feared rebel militias, the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army. LRA leaders initially claimed to be fighting to install a theocracy in Uganda based on the Biblical 10 commandments. But they now roam across parts of Sudan and Central African Republic (CAR), as well as north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. |
| Rights Group Says Arms Transport Needs Regulation | |
VOA News - July 19, 2010 | |
 | States are failing to control the transport of weapons around the world, says a new report from London-based watchdog Amnesty International. Transport companies registered in China, France, the Russian Federation, Britain and the United States move weapons to countries where they could be used to commit human-rights violations. |
| ICRC confirms release of eight staff members in South Kivu | |
ICRC - April 16, 2010 | |
 | The eight staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) held since 9 April by an armed group operating in South Kivu province were released today in the Fizi area and handed over to ICRC personnel. |
| Congo Militias Target of Virunga Park Ranger Crackdown | |
VOA News - August 3, 2009 | |
 | The charcoal trafficking…is an extremely lucrative business. It has an annual turnover of over $30 million. And much of those revenues are going to the armed groups. And these armed groups are responsible for the instability in the eastern Congo, which has been an extremely serious problem for over 15 years. |
| DR Congo Celebrates Independence Day | |
Congo News Agency - June 30, 2009 | |
 | President Joseph Kabila called for a “moral and patriotic revival” to tackle the different challenges facing the country. He thanked the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) for their continued efforts to rid the country of all militias and armed groups. He urged all Congolese to support them. He said that the Government will intensify its efforts to achieve peace in all corners of the country and stop all sorts of violence against civilians, especially women. |
| Record number of former Hutu rebels leaves DR Congo - UN mission | |
UN News - June 19, 2009 | |
| A record number of former Hutu rebels left the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for their home in Rwanda this week, the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the DRC reported today. |
| UN, DRC agree on strengthening joint operation against armed groups | |
Xinhua - June 8, 2009 | |
 | The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Congolese military (FARDC) have agreed to strengthen their joint operation against illegally-armed groups in the vast African nation's far east,a UN spokesman said on Monday. |
| DRC Army Integrates Over 6,000 Rebels | |
VOA News - January 29, 2009 | |
 | At the ceremony, former rebel military commander Bosco Ntaganda was named second-in-command of the joint military brigades. An international mediation group headed by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo walked out of the ceremony in protest. Ntaganda is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of using child soldiers during hostilities in Congo's Ituri province in 2002 and 2003. |
