Dr. Denis Mukwege evacuated from Bukavu for unknown destination

(PHOTO: Rama Yade, then French minister for Human Rights, left, tours Bukavu Panzi Hospital with Dr. Denis Mukwege; Monday, June 8, 2008) *** Two days following the attempt on his life, under armed escort by MONUSCO peacekeepets, Dr. Denis Mukwege, alongside his family, left Bukavu in the morning of Saturday, October 27, for an unknown destination, according to newswires. Radio Okapi reports that Dr. Mukwege and his family boarded an Eco-Flight...

Read More

Bukavu: 1) City on lockdown; & 2) Details of deadly home invasion at Dr. Denis Mukwege's domicile

(PHOTO: Dr. Faida Mitifu, DRC Ambassador to Washington (left), & Dr. Denis Mukwege; Thursday, June 30, 2011,Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC)***1) City on virtual lockdownSources in Bukavu tell me today that the provincial capital of North Kivu was on virtual lockdown this Saturday morning after a night of shooting spree by angry FARDC soldiers.The anger of the the soldiers was sparked by the killing of one of their elements at Uvira.Details...

Read More

North Kivu Gov curbs border crossings as M23 metastasizes into Revolutionary Army of Congo

(PHOTO 1: Goma resident wounded by grenade blast, Monday, October 8)(PHOTO 2: Nganda Nova, Goma, Saturday, October 13, 7:15 p.m. Not onesingle beer sold that evening)***According to AFP and newswires, M23 metastasized this past Sunday intowhat its spokesperson, self-anointed "bishop" Jean-Marie Runiga,dubbed the Revolutiomary Army of the Congo.Runiga was making this statement at the border crossing city ofBunagana, upon returning from Uganda where...

Read More

Kinshasa: François Hollande makes a stink and Congolese & experts see flop

(PHOTO: Clockwise: French Overseas Minister Victorin Lurel, FrançoisHollande, Etienne Tshisekedi; & Albert Moleka, Tshisekedi's spokesman.Kinshasa, Maison de France, Saturday, October 13, 2012)***In his comment to the previous post, David Aronson of "CongoResources" advocacy blog, criticized the stance of some Congoleseoppositionists who were pushing for the cancelation of FrançoisHollande's participation at the 14th Francophony Summit in Kinshasa.Aronson...

Read More

French Prez blasts Kinshasa & Kigali in front of Ban Ki-moon

(PHOTO: UNSG Ban Ki-moon and French Prez François Hollade at theElysée Palace, Wednesday, October 9)***Three days before the opening of the Francophony Summit in Kinshasa, asummit which the French president will attend, François Hollandeundiplomatically blasted the Kinshasa regime for its allegedly"unaccepable" anti-democratic practices and Kigali for its"aggression" on the DRC.Hollande made those remarks at the joint press briefing he held withBan...

Read More

Kafkaesque Republic: White Opposition leader Pierre-Jacques Chalupa gets 4-year jail term for forgery and use of forgeries

(PHOTO: Mireille Akamia Chalupa & her jailed husband Pierre-JacquesChalupa at Kinshasa Makala Prison, Monday, July 30, 2012)***The Kafkaesque nightmare of White Congolese opposition leaderPierre-Jacques Chalupa took a turn for the worse Saturday, October 6,when the Magistrates' Court of Ngaliema, a Commune of Kinshasa, foundhim guilty and sentenced him to 4 years behind bars for forgery anduse of forgeries.The hope his family and supporters entertained...

Read More

Goma: DRC Murder Capital

(PHOTO 1: A police line at the scene where a captain of the RepublicanPresidential Guard and two other people were murdered September 25)(PHOTO 2: The Goma cityhall mortuary services hearse is busy thesedays picking up bodies from crime scenes. Here, it's picking up thebody of an alleged bandit lynched by a neighborhood posse on Tuesday,October 2)***Blogger-journo Charly Kasereka and France24 news channel reporterSégolène Malterre write that murder...

Read More

Nollywood Stuff: Another killing in former home of African-American actress Charlize Theron

(PHOTO 1: "The house in Benoni, South Africa, where actress CharlizeTheron grew up. This is where a man was murdered during a robbery onFriday." This is also where Theron's mother gunned down her husbandin self-defense in 1991)(PHOTO 2: "Charlize Theron and her mother Gerda at the 82nd AcademyAwards in 2010")***The famous Johannesburg-based tabloid The Star reported on October 3that last Friday a man called Barry Newland was murdered in hisresidence...

Read More

Tag der Deutschen Einheit in Kongo: German Ambassador Peter Blomeyer castigates M23 & Rwanda

(PHOTO: Dr. Peter Blomeyer, DRC German Ambassador)***Tag der Deutschen Einheit or Day of German Unity--the national daycelebrated to mark the reunification of Germany on October 3,1990--was marked in Kinshasa by the strongly-worded remarkscastigating M23 and Rwanda by German Ambassador Peter Blomeyer, who isending his term in the DRC begun in August 2010.Ambassador Blomeyer made those remarks on two separate occasions.First, in an interview with...

Read More