Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | People stayed home across Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, leaving troops to patrol ghost cities as tension peaked hours before President Joseph Kabila’s mandate ends, but with no election in sight. Kabila’s second term expires at midday on December 20, but he …
Read More »INTERVIEW: Low infrastructure hampering internet usage
What key areas does your work portfolio focus on? When the Telecom duopoly was de-regularised in 2006, we were the first company to get a licence. We started the business as wholesalers of voice and data under the capacity re-sell licence. We spent the first three years doing only that. …
Read More »At least 20 dead in DR Congo gold mine collapse
Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | At least 20 people were killed in a gold mine collapse in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a local minister said on Sunday. The deaths occurred overnight at a mine in South Kivu region in the east of the country, the province’s mines …
Read More »KABILA: Young, enigmatic and still around
Joseph Kabila: DR Congo’s young, enigmatic leader Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Still relatively young after 16 years leading the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila is a secretive president at the centre of a political crisis in his vast, conflict-ravaged nation. Tuesday marks the end of the second …
Read More »DR Congo orders social networks blocked as Kabila’s term expires
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have ordered that social networks including Facebook and WhatsApp be blocked soon before President Joseph Kabila’s mandate expires, three internet providers said Thursday. Congo’s telecoms regulator issued an order, seen by AFP, demanding that providers cut access …
Read More »Eleven-nation Central African talks back Kabila’s DRC deal
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Eleven countries, meeting Wednesday on security in central Africa, urged the Democratic Republic of Congo’s opposition to back a deal that could keep its president in office far beyond his official mandate. Leaders or their representatives from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) …
Read More »No elections in DR Congo before April 2018
Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | Controversial moves to extend Congolese President Laurent Kabila’s stay in power appeared to advance Sunday as a close ally said elections would not be held until April 2018, 16 months after Kabila was due to leave office. Foreign Minister Raymond Tshibanda also warned that the …
Read More »Nande, Hutu attacks leave 34 civilians dead in DR Congo
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | At least 34 civilians were killed Sunday in a flare up of ethnic violence in restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said, following a week of soaring tensions. “The provisional toll is 34 civilians killed,” said local official Joy Bokele, referring to an …
Read More »FEATURE: DR Congo’s business dreams flatlined by violence
Butembo, DR Congo | AFP | The question is so absurd that Butembo’s deputy mayor misses a beat before answering. What is the town’s unemployment rate? “Unemployment is the norm around these parts,” says Godefroid Kambere Matimbya. “There aren’t any businesses.” Butembo is no ghost town, but a city of …
Read More »‘Bye-Bye Kabila’ campaign launched in DR Congo
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Around a dozen opposition groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo united Tuesday in a campaign urging President Joseph Kabila to quit when his mandate officially ends on December 20. The “Bye-Bye Kabila” movement wants the president, who has been accused of delaying election …
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