News | Ituri
| Alan Doss: These allegations are still speculation | |
Radio Okapi - April 29, 2008 | |
 | In a BBC radio report of 28 April 2008, certain Pakistani and Indian MONUC blue helmets were alleged to have sold weapons for gold to the militia of Ituri in 2004 and 2005. The UN conducted an investigation in 2007. Alan Doss, head of MONUC, responded to these allegations in an interview with Radio Okapi. |
| UN troops 'armed DR Congo rebels' | |
BBC - April 28, 2008 | |
 | The UN has covered up claims that its troops in Democratic Republic of Congo gave arms to militias and smuggled gold and ivory, the BBC has learned. The allegations, based on confidential UN sources, involve Pakistani and Indian troops working as peacekeepers. |
| Human Rights: Castañon calls for sustainability in the DRC | |
MONUC - April 10, 2008 | |
 | Fernando Castañon, Director of MONUC's Human Rights Division and Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the DRC, reached the end of his mission on 8 April 2008. As division head since February 2005 and a UN staff member since 1989, he talked to us about his work at MONUC and his past experience with the UN. |
| Security Council extends arms embargo and monitoring group | |
UN News - March 31, 2008 | |
 | The United Nations Security Council today extended until the end of the year its arms embargo and other sanctions meant to keep weapons out of the hands of militias in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which it said continue to threaten stability in the eastern part of the vast country. |
| USAID: assistance to the DRC is expected to surpass $100 million this fiscal year | |
MONUC - March 18, 2008 | |
 | US development assistance to the DRC is expected to surpass $100 million this fiscal year, declared Henrietta Fore, USAID Administrator and Director of US foreign assistance during her visit to the DRC from 15 to 17 March 2008. This would bring total US contributions for 2008 up to $500 million, compared with $460 million in 2007. |
| Funds to boost stability in Ituri | |
IRIN - March 12, 2008 | |
 | The international community has released US$7 million as a first tranche of aid this year to stabilise the troubled district of Ituri in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ross Mountain, UN resident coordinator and special representative of the UN Secretary-General in the country, said. |
| Lubanga Trial Delay Concerns | |
IWPR - February 29, 2008 | |
 | The judge hearing the case against Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga has expressed concern at continuing delays to the start the International Criminal Court's first-ever trial. The case was set to begin March 31at ICC courtrooms in The Hague but now seems unlikely to start before mid-June and could be pushed back even further. "I will make no secret of the fact of my real frustration, already expressed in no uncertain terms in open court, about delays in getting our first trial up and running," said British judge Adrian Fulford recently to a group of diplomats and human rights representatives in The Hague. |
| Chaos in the Courts | |
IWPR - February 27, 2008 | |
 | The recent acquittal of former militia leader Kahwa Panga Mandro, better known in the troubled eastern region of Ituri as Chief Kahwa, has sparked a wave of outrage across the sprawling Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC. Although first convicted and sentenced for war crimes and crimes against humanity in February 2005, the appeals court in the northeastern city of Kisangani overturned that verdict, saying Chief Kahwa was covered by the country's amnesty law. |
| Concerns over acquittal of war crimes convict | |
IRIN - February 21, 2008 | |
 | The acquittal by a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of a militia leader convicted of war crimes has drawn criticism, with human rights activists saying the decision could set a bad precedent in a country where armed groups have committed atrocities against civilians with impunity. |
| Security Council extends arms embargo on Democratic Republic of Congo until 31 March, unanimously adopting Resolution 1799 (2008) | |
Security Council - February 15, 2008 | |
| Determining that the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continued to constitute a threat to international peace and security in the region, the Security Council decided this morning to extend the sanctions regime for that country, due to expire today, until 31 March. |
