Over sixty people killed, thousands of houses burned down and more than 100,000 displaced people, including 42,000 refugees in neighbouring Uganda. Those are the consequences so far of the violence in the north-eastern Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since December 2017. The violence marks a counterpoint

The Art of the Possible: MONUSCO’s New Mandate The current mandate of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) expires on March 31, 2018. In a report released today, the Congo Research Group (CRG) argues that the United Nations Security Council should take bold

There has been a broad outpouring of support for the demonstrations announced by the Comité laïc de coordination (CLC) this Sunday. This one comes from the Central African Studies Association, a group of academics from across North America, Europe, and Africa. You can read the full statement here.

For most of the past three years, the lament of diplomats and human rights activists alike has been summed up by one word: glissement. Kabila does not want to hold elections, as he is term limited, so he plays for time by creating artificial delays. The focus of advocacy was on

Last Friday, President Joseph Kabila called an impromptu press conference in Kinshasa, during which he spoke for over two and a half hours. My general thoughts below, followed by a fact check of his main points. A few things struck me watching the press conference. First, how at ease the

Isidor Ndaywel est un intellectuel congolais et l’auteur de L’histoire générale du Congo: De l’héritage ancien à la République démocratique. Il a enseigné et conduit des recherches à l’Université de Kinshasa, à l’Université de Lubumbashi, à l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) et à l’Université Paris I. Il

Just three weeks after their last protest, Congolese in several major cities (Bukavu, Goma, Mbuji-Mayi, Kananga, Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, and Kisangani, perhaps others) turned out for protests against the government after Sunday mass. The pictures were moving, once again: Barefoot priests leading parishioners, crosses held high, chanting the Lord’s Prayer and

For a long time, the opposition to President Kabila had a real problem: it looked too much like President Kabila. Many of its leaders––Vital Kamerhe, Moise Katumbi, Pierre Lumbi, Olivier Kamitatu––were allies of Kabila until recently. The main exception to this, Etienne Tshisekedi, is now dead, and his party has

The stiffest, more urgent challenge to President Kabila’s rule took place in major cities across the Congo today as members of the Catholic Church led protests against Kabila’s refusal to step down. According to the UN peacekeeping mission, 8 people were killed and 123 arrested when police and soldiers opened fire on

Today, Reuters and RFI released a simultaneous articles into the killing of Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan on March 12, 2017. Drawing on the internal Congolese military court documents shared by the United Nations, It exposes the involvement of several government informers in the killing, and raises serious questions about the UN Board of Inquiry that had