Congo War
Category archives for Congo War
UN report verifies DR Congo killings “may be genocide”
Posted by Greg Laden on October 2, 2010 Nazi Holocaust: 1939 – 1945 War crimes trials: Fall 1945 DR Congo genocide: 1996-1997 War crimes trials: Still thinking about it. I guess that brackets the range of potential variation. (Note: This does not refer to the other, related genocide of Tutsi, for which trials have taken place.)
Large Scale Rape Incident in Congo
Posted by Greg Laden on September 25, 2010 The UN’s human rights chief has said the “scale and viciousness” of mass rapes in DR Congo “defy belief”, as a report into the attack was released. Navi Pillay said that, even for the region, the incident stood out because of the “extraordinarily cold-blooded and systematic way” it was carried out. Some 300 people were…
Dirty poor people living in slime: Missionaries and American Idol
Posted by Greg Laden on June 26, 2009 Actual missionaries As you may have noticed, I have written a series of posts about missionaries in eastern Zaire in the 1980s and early 1990s, focusing on my own personal experiences. These seven posts represent only a small number of these experiences, but they are more or less representative. They are meant to underscore the…
Rape Crisis in East Congo Tied to Mining Activity
Posted by Greg Laden on June 2, 2009 -Activists concerned by this year’s escalation of sexual violence in eastern Congo are trying to turn up the heat on those benefitting–directly or indirectly–from illicit mineral extractions. “Conflict minerals power our entire electronic industry,” John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project, told U.S. senators at a May 13 hearing on sexual violence in eastern Congo…
A rape in progress
Posted by Greg Laden on June 1, 2009 Please read the following vignette of an actual incident. I am a scientist observing the culture of the Namoyoma people. I am sitting in a shady spot just outside the village, writing up some notes, and I observe a disturbing event. Four men are trying to drag a young woman from the road into the…
Rwandan Sentenced
Posted by Greg Laden on December 2, 2008 One of Rwanda’s most famous singers, Simon Bikindi, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for inciting violence during the 1994 genocide. His conviction stems from a speech he made from a vehicle equipped with a public address system encouraging ethnic Hutus to kill Tutsis. bbc
Congo Rights Abuses
Posted by Greg Laden on November 25, 2008 All sides in eastern DR Congo have committed serious human rights abuses, the UN secretary general has said. Ban Ki-moon said both government forces and rebels loyal to Gen Laurent Nkunda had carried out arbitrary executions, mass killings, rape and torture. The report covers July to November, when the most recent fighting flared. In a…
UN agrees to Congo troop increase
Posted by Greg Laden on November 20, 2008 The United Nations Security Council has voted to send 3,000 more troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo following renewed fighting in the country’s east. The increase means the peacekeeping mission, Monuc, will have about 20,000 troops and police on the ground – the biggest UN force of its kind. bbc
DR Congo armed forces chief fired
Posted by Greg Laden on November 18, 2008 The military chief of staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been sacked after the army lost territory to rebel forces in the east. The reason for Dieudonne Kayembe’s dismissal was the urgency of the conflict, a TV statement said. President Joseph Kabila named navy chief General Didier Etumba Longomba as the new head…
Cease Fire, Congo Style
Posted by Greg Laden on November 17, 2008 Amid calls by the rebel leader in the Congolese war, intensive fighting has broken out along the front lines among troops north of Goma, between Goma and Vitshumbi. This is a fairly large area of the Western Rift Valley nestled between the western rift wall and the Virunga Volcanoes (which is where the famous mountain…