Democratic Republic of Congo

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UN Helpless as Congo Rebels Go on Rape Spree

Rebels terrorize town a few miles from UN base

(Newser) - Congolese and Rwandan rebels continue to sow terror across eastern Congo, holding an entire town hostage earlier this month and gang-raping nearly 200 women and baby boys, the AP reports. The violence occurred only a few miles from a base of UN peacekeepers, but the force of 25 was unable...

Congo Tucked Into Depths of Financial Reform Bill

Provision targets conflict minerals...used in your cell phone

(Newser) - Hidden in the recesses of the financial reform bill is a provision that could rock the US electronics industry. From now on, companies will be required to disclose what steps they’re taking to ensure their products—think cellphones, laptops, and medical devices—don’t contain minerals from the Congo,...

Oil Tanker Explodes, Kills 204 in Congo

Many victims were indoors watching World Cup match

(Newser) - At least 204 people were killed in Congo when a tanker truck transporting oil flipped over and exploded overnight in the east of the country, a Red Cross official said today. The truck was carrying fuel from neighboring Tanzania when it overturned at high speed late yesterday in the village...

'Charity App' Helps Gorillas
 'Charity App' Helps Gorillas 
May 18, 2010 2:06 AM CDT

'Charity App' Helps Gorillas

iGorilla lets users track Congo animals

(Newser) - A new application for iPhones and iPads lets users use their gadgets to help save Congo's critically endangered population of mountain gorillas. The iGorilla app makes it possible for users to follow gorilla families around remote areas of the war-torn country with updates from the rangers at Virunga National Park,...

African Seeks Ban on Racist Tintin in Belgium

Tintin in the Congo ' offensive'

(Newser) - A Congolese man living in Belgium wants a Tintin book banned in the cartoon character's homeland. Tintin in the Congo, written in the late 1920s, has been widely attacked for its crude and offensive racial stereotypes. "It makes people think that blacks have not evolved," said Bienvenu Mbutu....

Gang Rape Epidemic Cripples Congo

New study shows growing problem

(Newser) - The Democratic Republic of Congo is in the midst of a horrific and deepening gang rape crisis, according to a new report commissioned by Oxfam. Of the roughly 4,000 rape victims researchers interviewed, 60% said they’d been attacked by groups of armed men. The sheer number of such...

Human Rights Watch: UN Supports Atrocities in Congo

Mission provides logistical support to brutal national army

(Newser) - Women and children beaten to death with clubs, hacked up with machetes—or, if they're "lucky," gang-raped and left alive. Such shocking acts are sadly commonplace in the conflict that has consumed Congo, perpetrated by both Rwandan rebels and their enemies in the Congolese army. The army, however,...

A Few Other Nobel Candidates

Tireless campaigners for human rights, long-suffering Chinese dissidents among those passed over

(Newser) - President Obama himself said he was not sure he deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and the Weekly Standard seems to agree. Mary Katherine Ham invites you to consider some of the luminaries who were passed over:
  • Sima Samar: A Afghan women’s rights activist who kept her schools—
...

Mountain Gorillas Take Fight to Survive Online

Ugandan animals' advocates embrace social networking

(Newser) - Not only can your online buddies be any age and in any location, they don't even have to be your species. Tech-savvy advocates of the endangered mountain gorilla are about to launch an umbrella site, friendagorilla.org, that will feature videos, social networking, and blogs—by park rangers, not gorillas....

Clinton Leaves Africa 'More Committed' Than Ever

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton ended her African tour today on a note of optimism colored by disdain, the New York Times reports. The secretary of state visited seven nations over 11 days and made her final remarks on the Cape Verde islands off the coast. “I leave Africa after this remarkable...

It's Time to Start Taking Hillary Seriously

She's still trivialized as she fights to empower women

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton’s trip to Congo was meant to help fulfill a promise to focus on women’s issues, but it seems to have turned on one woman's issues. Though “there could have been no more dramatic setting,” writes Judith Warner in the New York Times, “back...

Clinton Challenges Congo to Stop Sexual Violence

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton traveled to war-ravaged eastern Congo today, where the nation's top diplomat demanded an end to the sexual violence that has claimed at least 200,000 victims. Clinton came to Goma aboard a UN plane over the objections of some top aides who were concerned about security and logistics...

Hillary: I'm Secretary of State, Not Bill

(Newser) - A visibly annoyed Hillary Clinton bristled today when—as she heard it—a Congolese university student asked what her husband thought about an international financial matter, the AP reports. "My husband is not secretary of state, I am," she snapped. "If you want my opinion, I will...

Congo's New Horror: Men Raping Men

(Newser) - Hundreds of thousands of women have been sexually assaulted in the ongoing war in eastern Congo, but suddenly, the region is seeing a sharp increase in rapes of men. More than 10% of the victims of sexual violence in the region are male, and victims are often ostracized by their...

Congo Battles Gorilla Pet Trade

World's only sanctuary for orphaned gorillas seeks to boost tourist numbers

(Newser) - Conservationists trying to save the Republic of Congo's gorillas are fighting to protect the primates from poachers and the pet trade, the Daily Telegraph reports. One foundation, which warns that the gorilla population will be half what it is now by 2020 at the current rate of extermination, has founded...

Baby Gorilla Stashed in Smuggler's Bag

Had been inside for 6 hours; 'is responding to treatment'

(Newser) - A live baby gorilla was found at the bottom of a smuggler’s plastic bag in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a 3-month undercover smuggling probe, MSNBC reports. The female eastern lowland gorilla, which has a street value of up to $20,000, had been in the bag for...

The Church Wants U 2 Give Up Txting 4 Lent

Benedict thinks technology is ruining young lives

(Newser) - If you’re still deciding what to give up for Lent, the Catholic Church has a suggestion: How about Facebook? A handful of Italian dioceses have begun a "stop texting" campaign, the Times reports, urging young people to give up text messaging, Facebook, video games, and other such newfangled...

US Funded Failed Attack on Ugandan Rebels

LRA escaped 'poorly planned' attack, massacred civilians

(Newser) - The US military helped fund and plan a disastrous attack on a Ugandan rebel group that resulted in reprisals against civilians, the New York Times reports. Uganda had hoped to rout the infamous Lord’s Resistance Army from the Congolese national park it was hiding in, but it failed to...

Amid Congo's Violence, a Gorilla 'Baby Boom'

Population of tame gorillas up 12.5%

(Newser) - The Democratic Republic of Congo has seen unspeakable violence, but one population has managed to thrive: the endangered mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park. The population of gorillas considered tame grew to 81 from 72 over the past year, Bloomberg reports. The gorilla population has boomed even as rangers entrusted...

Int'l Criminal Court Opens With Congo Trial

In first case, warlord pleads not guilty to using child soldiers

(Newser) - The International Criminal Court in The Hague began its first trial today, as a Congolese militia leader pleaded not guilty to charges of using child soldiers. The court's prosecutor accused Thomas Lubanga of using hundreds of boys as young as nine "to kill, pillage, and rape" in the Democratic...

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