Congolese refugees in Angola are returning home

Congolese refugees in Angola are returning home

Congolese refugees who fled to Angola to escape fighting between armed groups and military forces in 2017 are beginning to return home, according to Angolan officials and UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency. Some 8,000 refugees have been on the move for the past week, with more than 1,400 already…

Angola’s deportations to DRC spark security fears

Angola’s deportations to DRC spark security fears

Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), warned Friday that Angola’s deportation of Congolese nationals is resulting in serious human rights violations by security forces on both sides of the border. Some 330,000 people have crossed from Angola back into the troubled Kasai and Kwango provinces…

Angola defends crackdown on Congolese refugees, illegal mines

Officials in Angola defended on Tuesday the closure of 67 illegal diamond mine operations as part of its “Operation Transparency” crackdown, a National Police effort in seven provinces meant to curb illegal mining and migration. Police spokesman António Bernardo told state news agency ANGOP that some 260 Congolese migrants left…

ICC prosecutor Bensouda launches probe in DR Congo

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague, is in Democratic Republic of Congo to begin an investigation into possible crimes against humanity reflected in the nation’s ongoing political and ethnic violence. She’s meeting with Marie-Ange Mushobekwa, the Minister for Human Rights, and other…

DRC: New arrests in the killing of UN experts Catalan, Sharp

Congolese officials say two people arrested at the weekend are leaders responsible for the high-profile deaths of United Nations experts in the volatile Kasais a year ago – including a man who appears in the video recording of their murders. Vincent Manga, leader of the militia group Kamuina Nsapu, and…

Report: Congolese army implicated in ethnic violence in Kasais

Government forces in the DR Congo have been implicated in waves of increasing ethnic violence in the Kasai provinces, according to a United Nations investigation report released Friday. The report, based on interviews with Congolese seeking refuge in neighboring Angola, details their horrific accounts of targeted killings and mutilation of…

DRC: Zeid requests international investigation in the Kasais

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has asked the UN Human Rights Council to open an investigation into widespread violations and abuses in the Kasai regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The human rights violations include 42 mass graves documented by UN officials, who say the actual…

Reports: Video implicates rebels in UN expert deaths in Kasai

Journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo say they have reviewed a video that appears to document the violent deaths of United Nations experts Zaida Catalan and Michael Sharp in March. Government officials made the video available to reporters in Kinshasa on Monday, stressing that the dress and manner of…

Angola sees influx of Congolese fleeing Kasai violence

More than 4,000 Congolese have crossed the border into Angola since Wednesday, seeking refuge from the fighting between Kamuina Nsapu rebels and government forces in the southern Kasai region of Democratic Republic of Congo. That’s according to figures provided on Saturday by the DR Congo consulate in Moshico, cited by…