DRC – 6 June 2014
A high-powered group of special envoys urged the Democratic Republic of Congo to fix a date for presidential polls in 2016, amid concerns President Joseph Kabila will seek a third term at the head of the conflict-torn nation.
“We already have a calendar for local elections, we really want to have a global election calendar until December 2016,” said UN envoy and former Irish president Mary Robinson at a press conference late on Tuesday. IOL News
DRC invites bids for gas exploration on Lake Kivu
Democratic Republic of Congo’s oil ministry has called for bids to exploit reserves of methane gas at the bottom of Lake Kivu on its eastern border with Rwanda, the prime minister’s office said on Friday.
The office announced the tender on its twitter account but did not give details. An oil ministry official said the tender process had not yet begun but added that Congo needed the gas to help meet its energy deficit.
Standard Digital News
Congo-Kinshasa: Rape, Sexual Violence Targets Women Across the DRC
Rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are not limited to the war zones in the eastern parts of the country – women detained miles away from conflict are suffering in similar ways to those in the east.
This sad truth is demonstrated in the new report on the use of rape as torture published today by Freedom from Torture, which features the voices of torture survivors organised in the Survivors Speak OUT! network. Survivors Speak OUT!