The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a comprehensive report on war crimes and human rights violations in the DRC between 1993 and 2003. A first step to ending a culture of impunity in the region?
Between July 30 and August 3rd, two militia groups in eastern DRC went on a rampage and gang-raped at least 179 women in a community of villages. The UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo has a base about 30 kilometers from the site of the attack--but apparently was unaware of the attacks as they were happening.
At the Daily Beast, Congolese activist Annie Rashidi-Mulumba laments that the United Nations has not played a more constructive role in resolving Congo's civil war. She also seems to welcome the forthcoming exit of UN peacekeeping troops, engineered by Congolese president Joseph Kabilla. She writes:
Nick Kristof's column in the Sunday New York Times described how certain metals used in common electronic equipment like iPods and cell phones are fueling conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The New York Times reported today on the killing of a Congolese human rights activities. Floribert Chebeya Bahizire was found dead in his car on June 2nd, in the Mont Ngafula neighborhood of Kinshasa.
Yesterday, in a new report, Human Rights Watch condemned the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) for its December 2009 killing of “at least 321 civilians, abducting 250 others, including at least 80 children, during a previously unreported four-day rampage in the Makombo area of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.”
On Tuesday evening, I received a short email from Mark. The message was this:
"massive, 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. really, really devastating"
Mark is an even-tempered and measured guy and I knew that he wouldn't exaggerate the severity of the situation.
In the days since the quake struck, I've tried, like so many millions of people, to do as much as possible to raise awareness, donate money, and help the victims of the Haiti catastrophe.
Human Rights Watch released a chilling report about alleged abuses committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by both rebel militias and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC).