With the world’s focus on new coronavirus COVID-19, the head of the World Health Organization is headed to Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday to assess the Ebola situation and the country’s health system. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus plans to meet with President Felix Tshisekedi and his senior advisers to…
The word “hirwa” means “lucky one” in Kinyarwanda, a language shared across regional borders in a pocket that includes parts of Rwanda, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and southern Uganda. Yet misfortune has struck nonetheless for the Hirwa mountain gorilla family living in the Virunga conservation area. Four of…
In the year since he took office in a bitterly contested election, President Felix Tshisekedi hasn’t done enough to advance human rights in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Amnesty International said Friday. The international NGO cited last week’s ban on meetings called by opposition leader Martin Fayulu, the Engagement for…
President Felix Tshisekedi completed his visit with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday before heading on an official visit to the United Kingdom. The president of Democratic Republic of Congo discussed the country’s Framework Agreement with the Vatican, while emphasizing the role the influential Roman Catholic Church has played…
With the new year, the World Health Organization has released a list of its top priorities for 2020. They include a number of concerns with special resonance on the African continent, including the need to understand that the climate crisis is a health crisis, and the need to address the…
The World Health Organization says more than 6,000 people have died from measles in Democratic Republic of Congo, during an outbreak that has seen some 310,000 suspected cases reported since the beginning of 2019. “We are doing our utmost to bring this epidemic under control,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO…
United States authorities say a Congolese woman died at a hospital in the state of Texas on Christmas Day after seeking entry at the U.S. border with Mexico. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency said the 41-year-old woman from Democratic Republic of Congo arrived with her family at…
Congolese authorities say they have finally found the black box from the Antonov AN-72 aircraft that crashed in Sankuru province more than two months ago. It is expected to help investigators understand what went wrong with a flight that claimed the lives of eight passengers and the flight crew. The…
Some of the world’s leading tech companies have been named in a lawsuit filed on behalf of children or their survivors who were killed or injured working in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The suit was filed in a United States federal court by International Rights Advocates,…
There are disappointing trends in the Ebola fight in Democratic Republic of Congo, where an uptick in reported cases and increased attacks by extremists in the affected eastern provinces dampen optimism that health workers are gaining ground. CMRE, the Congolese agency overseeing the Ebola response, listed five health zones Sunday…
Greenpeace Africa, alongside a coalition of groups from central African neighbors Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Brazzaville, says it is promoting climate action from Kinshasa instead of COP25 in Madrid because eight delegates were denied timely visas. The annual climate conference is hosted in Spain this year instead of…
The United Nations said Friday that the situation in Democratic Republic of Congo, where more Ebola response workers were killed in attacks this week in and around Beni, has become untenable for civilians and the health and humanitarian aid workers seeking to help them. Armed groups have been targeting civilians…
The United Nations mission in Democratic Republic of Congo has appealed for “calm and responsibility” in the city of Beni, where protesters attacked its facilities after eight people died Sunday night in yet another armed rebel attack on civilians. Leila Zerrougui, the head of the UN’s MONUSCO mission, said she…
Fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo has interfered again with response to the Ebola crisis in affected regions in the country’s east, with World Health Organization (WHO) officials warning that the violence compromises the progress made in recent months. “Following another senseless attack on civilians in eastern DRC on…
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi will deliver opening ceremony remarks Tuesday as the Paris Peace Forum kicks off, but he is one of many African heads of state traveling to discuss global issues ranging from climate change to security, and stolen art to good governance principles. Tshisekedi will join host President…