Republic of Congo

GOMA (DR Congo), Dec 7 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Eight people were killed by unidentified gunmen in a shootout in a working-class neighbourhood of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the governor of North Kivu said.

“Two individuals arrived on a motorbike at a barber shop and killed two people, firing without warning. Then they stole some phones. They then fired indiscriminately on the population, resulting in a death toll of eight people,” Carly Nzanzu Kasivita, governor of North Kivu told newmen.

BENI (Reuters) - Armed men freed at least 900 prisoners from a jail in Beni, east Democratic Republic of Congo, in a coordinated attack in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the town’s mayor said, blaming an Islamist militant group operating in the area.

Only 100 out of more than 1,000 inmates remained following the simultaneous assault on the Kangbayi central prison and on the military camp defending it, said Modeste Bakwanamaha.

KINSHASA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least 50 people are feared dead after a gold mine collapsed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said Saturday.

The accident occurred on Friday afternoon in the town of Kamituga in South Kivu province following heavy rains.

Photos and videos on social media showed hundreds of people, some of whom could be heard wailing on a hillside around the mine-shaft entrance.

BENI (DR Congo), July 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Seven Congolese soldiers were killed in an ambush Tuesday in the Virunga national park famous for its mountain gorillas, monitors said, blaming the attack on the notorious ADF militia.

Army spokesman Antony Mualushayi confirmed the report by the Kivu Security Tracker (KST) but declined to give a death toll or comment further.

The attack took place in Virunga, east of Kididiwe in the Beni area of North Kivu province in the far east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the border with Uganda.

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Days of fighting between armed groups in villages in Congo’s South Kivu province killed at least 43 people, many of them women and children, residents said Saturday.

At least 40 others disappeared after members of the armed group known as Ngumino attacked the village of Kipupu on Thursday while they were being pursued by the Mai Mai rebel group, according to the coordinator of South Kivu civil society groups, Andre Byadunia.

KINSHASA, July 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A notorious militia has killed nearly 800 civilians in eastern DR Congo since the start of last year, the UN said, adding that the attacks may amount to crimes against humanity.

The ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) has committed “widespread, systematic and extremely brutal” rights abuses, according to a report by the UN’s Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) in DR Congo.

Between Jan 1 last year and Jan 1 this year, the report documented the killing of 496 civilians — 142 women, 25 children and 329 men.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo’s prime minister protested on Sunday over the brief arrest of the justice minister, saying the coalition government could resign over the issue and calling on the president to guarantee cabinet members’ legal protections.

Justice Minister Celestin Tunda was detained by police on Saturday evening and released following several hours of questioning by prosecutors at the court of cassation, triggering a political storm within the ruling coalition.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - The second-largest Ebola outbreak on record is over after nearly two years and more than 2,200 deaths, Democratic Republic of Congo said on Thursday, even as a separate flare-up of the virus continued elsewhere in the country.

Despite effective vaccines and treatments that dramatically boosted survival rates when administered early, the outbreak dragged on as first responders struggled to gain access to virus hotspots in Congo’s restive eastern borderlands.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Fourteen members of a religious sect aiming to revive the pre-colonial Kongo kingdom died during clashes with the police and locals in western Democratic Republic of Congo, the interior ministry said on Thursday.

The Bundu dia Mayala (BDM) sect wants to restore the kingdom that thrived for centuries around the mouth of the Congo River and includes portions of Congo, Congo Republic, Angola and Gabon.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo recorded a second Ebola death in days following more than seven weeks without a new case, the World Health Organization said on Sunday.

Congo had been due on Sunday to mark an end to the second-deadliest outbreak of the virus on record until a case was confirmed on Friday in the eastern city of Beni.

The outbreak has killed more than 2,200 people since August 2018 in an area of the country where militia violence hobbled efforts to contain it.