Congo: Violence In The Game Park

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July 20, 2022: To comply with the order of a Congo court-appointed administrator, communist China’s China Molybdenum Company (CMOC) has stopped exports from its Tenke Fungurume copper and cobalt mine. In 2021 the Tenke Fungurume mine alone produced ten percent of the world’s cobalt. In February 2022 Congo’s state mining company sued CMOC and accused it of understating the mine’s ore reserves with the goal of reducing the royalties the Chinese corporation owed Congo. CMOC denied the charge. According to Congolese sources, CMOC recently denied the Congolese special administrator access to the mine.

July 15, 2022: The Congo Republic’s (Congo-Brazzaville) ruling party has won the first round of national legislative elections. Congo-Brazzaville’s Congolese Labor Party (PCT) –the party of President Denis Sassou Nguesso -- won an estimated 110 of the 151 contested seats. PCT allied parties won an additional 12 seats.

July 14, 2022: The grandson of former Congo dictator Mobutu Sese Seko was elected governor of Congo's North-Ubangi province. Malo Ndimba Mobutu won 11 of 18 senior lawmaker votes in the election. Mobutu the elder ruled Congo as a dictator for 32 years.

Two Congolese citizens pled guilty to U.S. charges of being involved in a smuggling ring that brought illegal (poached)l elephant ivory, pangolin scales and rhinoceros’ horn into the America

July 13, 2022: Armed Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels have killed nine people in two attacks in North Kivu province.

In eastern Congo (South Kivu province) a Congolese employee of Chinese owned ORC (Oriental Resources Congo), was killed and another wounded. Two civilian bystanders were also wounded. The attackers were believed to be locals angry at China reneging commitments they made to local communities.

July 12, 2022: In eastern Congo (North Kivu province) ADF Islamic terrorists based in Virunga National Park killed seven people and kidnapped another near the city of Beni. This was a diversion to draw troops away from the main attack against a prison outside Beni. That group was detected before they got to the prison and the ADF men fled back to their Virunga base. There are a lot of ADF members in that prison because during the last eight months a joint Congo-Uganda anti-ADF operation had been searching for and for and finding ADF members and their bases, especially those in the vast Virunga National Park, which has been a favorite hideout for rebels and Islamic terrorists since the 1990s. The 7,769 square kilometer (2,999 square mile) park is largely uninhabited and consists largely of forests and hilly terrain along the borders of Uganda and Rwanda. Years of military and police operations against rebels, poachers, and Islamic terrorists in the park had put a lot of ADF members in prison. The campaign since December 2021 has killed, wounded or captured several hundred ADF members, including several prominent ADF leaders.

July 11, 2022: The East African Community (EAC) officially ratified Congo’s admission. The EAC admitted Congo in June. The official ratification was a formality.

Rwanda and Congo agreed to a de-escalation process that will resolve their countries' disagreements.

July 8, 2022: ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) claimed responsibility for an attack that killed at least 12 people in a church-sponsored clinic in North Kivu province. Many of the victims, including infants, were burned to death.

July 6, 2022: Congo and Rwanda agreed to de-escalated tensions created by the reemergence of the March 23 (M23) rebel group. Angola acted as mediator in the agreement. The agreement included a commitment to defeat the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) Hutu ethnic rebel group.

July 5, 2022: Inflation in the Central African Republic (CAR) has spiked prices and led the World Food Program to warn that hunger and food shortages will increase in the CAR and throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The WFP recently said that it needs an additional $69 million to feed threatened African nations.

July 4, 2022: Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame said his country has no problem with allowing other countries to participate in a regional military force to end the decade-long regional problem involving Congo and Uganda.

Congo declared an end to its recent Ebola-virus outbreak in Equateur province. There were four confirmed cases and one probable. All victims died.

July 2, 2022: Burundi celebrated the 60th anniversary of independence.

July 1, 2022: A Ugandan court released opposition leader Kizza Besigye on bail. Besigye had spent two weeks in jail. He faced charges of inciting violence.

French prosecutors confirmed they are investigating allegations of complicity in war crimes by the Groupe Castel beverage company in the Central African Republic (CAR).

June 29, 2022: UN officials are demanding more access to Burundi to investigate atrocities committed recently in Burundi.

June 25, 2022: The Uganda Air Force confirmed it has acquired three new Mi-28 attack helicopters.

June 23, 2022: Uganda has lifted a ban on a European NGO investigating atrocities and other government misbehavior. The government declared the ban 18 months ago.

 

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