First Independent Mena Newspaper
The latest East African Community (EAC) summit at the weekend focused, among other issues, on the resolution of two conflicts that are threatening the stability of the region — the dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia and the unabated violence by rebel groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Kenya’s President William Ruto has said […]
A new political alliance named ‘National Awakening’ has emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo to oppose potential constitutional amendments that critics fear could extend President Felix Tshisekedi’s tenure indefinitely. The coalition, comprising political and civil society leaders, plans its inaugural gathering in December to commemorate the 2005 referendum that established the current constitution. Opposition […]
The United States’ ambitions to de-risk its critical minerals from China’s supply chains may be complicated by Chinese control of cobalt and other resources from Africa, most notably the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a new study finds. The study, recently released by the London-based minerals research and pricing firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, found that […]
At least 129 people were reportedly killed while trying to escape from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) largest and chronically overcrowded prison in the capital Kinshasa. Congolese Interior Minister Shabani Lukoo said in a post on X on Tuesday (3 September) that “he provisional toll is 129 dead, including 24 by gunfire, after warning,” […]
A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sentenced 25 soldiers to death in a one-day trial on Wednesday (3 July) after finding them guilty of fleeing the enemy, violating orders, dissipation of war munitions and theft, among other charges. The Congolese army has been fighting the Rwanda-backed M23 insurgency in the […]
African governments need to develop robust strategies for the critical minerals sector amid global rush for the continent’s lithium and other strategically important rare metals, a recent research has found. Demand for lithium, for example, tripled from 2017 to 2022, while the critical minerals market doubled in five years, reaching US$320 billion in 2022, according […]
Democratic Republic of Congo army foiled an attempted coup early Sunday (19 May), the country’s authorities have said, alleging that the coup plotters included some US and UK citizens, and they were led by a Congolese “naturalized American” named Christian Malanga. The streets of DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, appeared calm on Sunday after the army announced […]
Four East African Community (EAC) member states — Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan — have joined the joint project by Kenya and Uganda to develop a modern railway to ease movement of goods on the Northern Corridor. The decision was made during a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee on […]
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s former planning minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka has been appointed as the African nation’s first-ever female prime minister amid worsening security and humanitarian situation in the country’s east. Suminwa was appointed on Monday (1 April) by DRC’s President Felix Tshisekedi, who sought to fulfill his campaign promise and make an important […]
A total of 45 countries and regions worldwide, including 33 in Africa, are in need of external assistance for food, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has warned. The FAO’s latest “Crop Prospects and Food Situation” report indicates that 33 African countries are in dire need of external assistance for food […]