The head of a Congolese non-governmental organization from Uvira has been detained and severely beaten by the
rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) Human Rights Watch has said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on all parties to the 1999 Lusaka peace accord to "fulfill their important responsibilities", noting that "the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo may be at a turning point".

The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has had "a major impact on the human rights situation in the country", with torture reported in government- as well as rebel- held areas, says, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson in a report.

Two armed opposition movements in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have agreed to form "a joint military force to track down, arrest and disarm negative forces" including the Interahamwe (Rwandan Hutu militias), the ex-FAR (former Rwandan Armed Forces), and the Mayi-Mayi (Congolese militias), rebel-controlled RTNC radio reported in Goma on Monday.

The Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), in collaboration with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), has launched a new publication covering the most significant information policy formulation and implementation processes in Southern Africa.

DRC Minister of Communications and Press Kikaya bin Karubi has decided to lift the measure that placed the RTKM and Canal Kin stations under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Press.

The government delegation of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Friday walked out of talks here about the future of the war-ravaged republic, complaining that the meeting was nothing but a "masquerade".

A preliminary round of the inter-Congolese peace and reconciliation dialogue began as scheduled on Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, without the participation of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila.

A total of 106 cases of cholera resulting in 16 deaths have been confirmed since the beginning of October in the town Ankoro, in north-central Katanga province, MSF reported last week.

The 60 million people of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are desperately hoping that the upcoming inter-Congolese peace talks will mark the beginning of the end of their country's ruinous three-year civil war.

Fighting in northern Angola has sent a new wave of refugees into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Tuesday.

A report released on Monday by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on economic aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) says that transparency and liberalisation advocated by Kinshasa at the political and economic levels, and with respect to human rights, offers a "real opportunity to end the crisis".

The much vaunted ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo is looking more precarious by the day.

The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) has confirmed that a network of UN-sponsored peacekeeping FM and shortwave radio stations is expected to begin with the November inauguration of its 24-hour headquarter station in Kinshasa. A name for the station has yet to be selected, and it will not mention either of the main sponsors - the UN or the Fondation Hirondelle.

According to a global report released Wednesday by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), there is “a strong possibility of use of anti-personnel mines in the DRC in June 2000” by Uganda, which is a party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty that outlaws any use, production, transfer or stockpiling of anti-personnel mines.

Reacting to widespread criticism of a military tribunal in Likasi in the southern DRC province of Katanga, some 2,000 km away from the capital, where some 100 people have been charged of conspiracy against and an assassination attempt on former DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila and current DRC President, Joseph Kabila, his son, authorities in Kinshasa have given assurances that the trial is fair and in conformity with the laws of the land, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported on Thursday.

The difficult human rights situation of women in the DRC and the need to increase women's representation in the peace process have spurred UNIFEM and the Office of the Facilitator of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue to call for the equal participation of women at the dialogue, to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 15 October.

Troop withdrawals and the inter-Congolese dialogue scheduled to begin 15 October in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia signal improvements in the DRC, but concerns remain over fighting in the east and human rights violations, the UN Security Council was told on Thursday.

The Banyamulenge, Congolese Tutsis of eastern DRC allied to the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) rebel movement, have issued a list of conditions in a document titled "Manifeste banyamulenge du 1er Aout 2001 pour la paix au Kivu" ("Banyamulenge Manifesto of 1 August 2001 for Peace in Kivu").

Multiple troop movements and population displacements in the DRC, and to and from neighbouring countries with high HIV prevalence rates, have left the DRC well set for "an explosion of HIV/AIDS", according to WHO focal point Dr Tshioko Kweteminga, cited in an agency situation report last month.