By Kristin Palitza

The village of rape survivor Angeline Mwarusena continues to be threatened by militia. / Einberger/argum/EED/IPS

BUKAVU, DR Congo, Oct 17 (IPS) – Angeline Mwarusena, 61, sits on a small wooden bench in front of her hut, head bent, shoulders slumped. Her voice is barely audible. Four years ago, three soldiers from the [...]

By Kristin Palitza

The village of rape survivor Angeline Mwarusena continues to be threatened by militia. / Einberger/argum/EED/IPS

BUKAVU, DR Congo, Oct 17 (IPS) – Angeline Mwarusena, 61, sits on a small wooden bench in front of her hut, head bent, shoulders slumped. Her voice is barely audible. Four years ago, three soldiers from the [...]

By Kristin Palitza

Years of war forced Passion, 13, to live on the street. / Einberger/argum/EED/IPS

GOMA, DR Congo, Oct 16 (IPS) – Five years into democracy, with the elections just a few weeks away, the majority of Congolese children continue to face a bleak future.

Years of bitter and bloody war in the eastern Democratic [...]

By Emmanuel Chaco
KINSHASA, Sep 27 (IPS) – "Every quarter, more than a hundred women with fistulas – including many younger than 20 years old – are admitted for surgery in Maniema province," says nurse Julie Mawazo. "The number of affected women who don't have the means or awareness to come in must be far greater."

Each [...]

By Emmanuel Chaco

Defence lawyer Nick Kaufman (l) and Callixte Mbarushimana. Kaufman argues prosecutors have no evidence of his client's responsibility for atrocities. / Courtesy International Criminal Court

KINSHASA, Sep 23 (IPS) – Sometime in the next two months, activists and survivors of horrific violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo will find out if [...]

By Emmanuel Chaco

A child walking through the Bangboka airport. / Gwen Dubourthoumieu/IRIN

KINSHASA, Jul 25 (IPS) – Major operational shortcomings are behind the recent spate of crashes at airports around the Democratic Republic of Congo, raising questions about safety for aircraft and passengers in the central African country.

"In the space of just one year, the [...]

By Anselme Nkinsi

Just 22 percent of Congolese have access to safe drinking water. / Julien Harneis/Wikicommons

KINSHASA, Jun 28 (IPS) – In recent months, no one in the Congolese capital has been spared the effects of water shortages. Where spending entire days criss-crossing Kinshasa in search of water with battered containers in hand was previously [...]

By Faustine Kapama
ARUSHA, Tanzania, Jun 24 (IPS) – Rwanda’s former minister of family and women affairs and the only woman to be indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide and rape, among other crimes.

The court handed the sentence down on Jun. 24.
Nyiramasuhuko [...]

By 
Emmanuel Chaco
KINSHASA, Jun 21 (IPS) – Civil society and the government are agreed: the Democratic Republic of Congo must make public the details of all mining, forestry and oil contracts.

Martin Kabwelulu, the DRC’s minister for mines and petroleum, told IPS that the country’s prime minister, Adolphe Muzito, imposed this requirement in a May 20 [...]

Farmers in southwestern Bandundu Province are seeing their harvests double, thanks to an ambitious programme of support by the government.

Are shiny new roofs the jewels on Africa’s emerging bride, or the bling worn by a bully?

Libyan government agrees to AU proposals for democratic reforms and talks with the rebels – who shun Addis meeting.

Clause would give EU power to take steps against trading partners if they violate human rights, democracy and good governance principles.

Eleven soldiers have begun serving lengthy sentences for the January rape of more than 50 women in the Congolese town of Fizi Centre.

KIKWIT, DR Congo, Feb 24 (IPS) – While discussion of hydroelectric power on the Congo River is dominated by the massive Grand Inga project and the dream of power for the entire continent, construction of a series of smaller dams to benefit local communities may produce tangible results much more quickly. Grand Inga could generate as much as 39,000 megawatts of power. Earlier in February, a two-year, 13.4 million dollar contract was awarded to Aecom Technology Company and Éléctricité de France to carry out feasibility studies for the hydroelectric generation complex and transmission lines to carry power as far as Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa.