sources: AllAfrica.com, Africa Infodoc, Misna
March 17 2004
-The spokesman for the MONUC, Hamadoun Toure, said that in a resolution approved on March 12 the UN Security Council reaffirmed the obligations of all States to prevent the provision of arms, material and assistance to armed groups operating in North and South Kivu and in Ituri. Meanwhile, MONUC's marine forces were deployed in the area of Lake Albert to watch for any arms flows to Ituri.
March 22 2004
-A British-based group, Rights and Accountability in Development RAID, has accused industrialised countries of failing to punish companies alleged to have profited from the Conolese war.
March 28 2004
-The Congolese government has arrested 15 men after a reported coup attempt in Kinshasa. The government says armed groups attacked two army posts, a naval base, Ndolo military airport, and a television station. Some officials say members of the former guard of late dictator Mobutu are behind the attacks. More than 3000 members of this guard are currently housed in Brazzaville.
April 13 2004
-The UN Security Council has elected three officials for its committee overseeing an arms embargo in the east of Congo.
April 26 2004
-Four experts have been named to monitor the UN arms embargo in Congo. The four are: Kathi Lynn Austin (USA), Victor Dupere (Canada), Jean-Luc Gallet (France) and Léon-Pascal Seudie (Cameroon). Meanwhile, MONUC chief William Lacy Swing sent letters to the Foreign Ministers of Congo and Rwanda, expressing concernpver movements by troops of the FDLR from Congo's border to Rwanda. On 21 April MONUC reported sighting FDR (Rwandan army) in Bunagana in Congo, when a Rwandan officer asked a MONUC patrol to withdraw from the area.
May 5 2004
-The US ambassador-designate to Congo, Roger Meece, says that the DRC has made substantial progress. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Meece cautioned the committee members,however, that the size and importance of the Congo requires committed engagement to maintain this progress. Asked about the elections, Meece said that the elections are scheduled for 2005, but there is concern that the various steps needed to realize that have not been progressing at the pace they need to.
-Close to 25 000 people have been displaced in the South Kivu since fighting began in April between the army and Rwandan interahamwe militia. Fighting between these groups took place from 19 to 23 April in Lemera.
May 12 2004
-On the eve of a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda in Washington, the UN representative in Congo, Swing, said that he hoped the talks would lead to the normalization of relations among the Central African countries.
May 14 2004
-Angola's President Dos Santos has ordered a halt to the forced expulsionof thousands of Congolese diamond diggers. The announcement, after a meeting with Congo's foreign minister in Washington, came after Angolan troops had entered the Congo as part of their expulsion drive. While Angola and Congo are repairing the situation on their borders, the tensions are more serious on the Rwandan side. The Rwandan President, Kagame, threatened to send back troops to Congo if the Congolese government and the MONUC failed to prevent the Rwandan Hutu militia (FDLR) attacking his country. A third focus of tension is the DRC-Uganda border. On 10 May a Ugandan army spokesman declared that a new rebel group called the People's Redemption Army (PRA) led by a defector from the Ugandan army UPDF, col.Muzoora, was threatening to attack the country from bases in the Ituri district in north eastern Congo.
-Calling on Rwanda and the Congo to strengthen security along their frontier, the UN Security Council condemned incursions by the Rwandan army into the eastern DRC as well as rebel attacks launched from Congolese territory.
May 16 2004
-The Congolese government appointed 11 provincial governors on Sunday 16 May.
The partition is as follows:
Kinshasa, Bas Congo, Kasai Occidental: (PPRD)
Bandundu (MLC)
Equateur (Civil Society)
Kasai Oriental (RCD-N)
Province Oriental, North Kivu (RCD-Goma)
Katanga (Mai-Mai)
Maniema (RCD-ML)
South Kivu (Political Opposition)
May 17 2004
-Representatives of all armed militia groups from Ituri have signed in Kinshasa an agreement with the government to disarm and participate in the country's transitional process.
May 28 2004
-UN peacekeeping patrols in Bukavu have been reinforced with units from Goma and Kindu as battles rock the city centre for the third day running. Armed elements of col. Jules Mutebusi, suspended since March from his post as deputy commander of the 10th military region, have been fighting regular troops not only downtown but also in the Nguba, Ruzizi I, College al-Fajiri and Nyawera districts.
-The World Bank has approved a $100 million grant to help consolidate peace an promote economi stability. The money would be used to support Congo's Demobilisation and Reintegration Project (DDR), under which an estimated 150 000 former combatants would be helped to integrate int civilian life.
May 30 2004
-There is much tension in the east of Congo where unconfirmed reports from Bukavu and Goma of fighting are fuelling fears of fresh clashes on a large scale. After an intense battle with soldiers of the regular army, Mutebusi allegedly managed to take the runway to Kavumu-airport. MONUC, which says that it still has control of the airport, threatened to use force should anyone try to cross the red line around the landing strip, while gen. Nkunda, coming from Goma with his troops, is surrounding the airport and has said that he was ready to enter Bukavu with his 1000 men.
June 1 2004
-Belgian Foreign Minister Michel stressed that his country was deeply concerned about the situation in the regions of Goma and Bukavu. He called on MONUC to help the Congolese government to restore order in the region and announced that Brussels would be sending a special anvoy to assist with mediation efforts.
-The Red Cross in Bukavu says at least 39 people have died since the fighting broke out on May 26.
-Thousands of Rwandan soldiers have crossed the border to support the dissident Congolese forces of Nkunda and Mutebusi.
June 3 2004
-Bukavu has fallen in the hands of the insurgents. President Kabila has ordered mobilisation of 10 000 soldiers to send to the city of Bukavu and other parts of eastern Congo.
June 4 2004
-MONUC reported that Rwandan military planes had been spotted over Congo, flying to an unknown destination west of Bukavu. Violent protests over the fall of Bukavu flared in the capital Kinshasa and in other places of Congo. The MONUC has taken control of security in Bukavu after leaders of the rebel troops agreed to withdraw their men.
June 5 2004
-CIAT (the International Committee to accompany the Transition of Congo) has strongly condemned the action of the rebel military of Nkunda and Mutebusi.
June 6 2004
-US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has declared that reports of a campaign of violence against the Banyamulenge population, the so-called motive for the insurgents to start fighting, to be false. He says: "Suggestions that a genocide or a mass killing of Congolese Tutsis has taken place are irresponsible and unnecessarily inflammatory."
June 7 2004
-Belgium's Foreign Minister Michel has mentioned the possibility of European Union peacekeepers going to eastern Congo. Rebel commander Nkunda has said that all his forces had left Bukavu, but the MONUC could not confirm this. Teh forces of the other rebel leader, Mutebusi, remain in Bukavu and peacekeepers are demanding the they now return to the barracks.
June 9 2004
-Soldiers of the regular army under gen. Mbusa Mabe of the 10the military region have entered the centre of Bukavu and the people came out onto the streets to celebrate.
June 12 2004
Fighting continued in the Congolese village of Kamanyola, near the Rwandan borders. Mutebusi's men are battling the troops of the regular army. After two days, Mutebusi finished fighting and sought refuge in Rwanda.
June 15 2004
-Calm has returned to Kalehe, a village at the Lake Kivu northern of Bukavu, after government troops regained control of the town from dissident troops commanded by gen. Nkunda.
June 16 2004
-UN investigators found no evidence of recent massacres of minority Tutsis in eastern Congo.
chronicle 9, september 29 -october 12 1997
chronicle 10, october 13 - october 26 1997
chronicle 11, october 27 - november 9, 1997
chronicle 12, november 10 -november 23 1997
chronicle 13, november 24 -december 7 1997
chronicle 14, december 8 1997 - january 4 1998
chronicle 15, january 5 - january 18 1998
chronicle 16, january 19 - february 1 1998
chronicle 17, february 2 - february 15 1998
chronicle 18, february 16 - march 1 1998
chronicle 19, march 2 - march 15 1998
chronicle 20, march 16 - march 29 1998
chronicle 21, march 30 - april 26 1998
chronicle 22, april 27 - mei 10 1998
chronicle 23, mei 11 - mei 31 1998
chronicle 24, juni 1 - august 26 1998
chronicle 25, august 27 - september 28 1998
chronicle 26,september 29- october 31 1998
chronicle 27, november 1- december 5 1998
chronicle 28, december 6 - january 24 1999
chronicle 29, january 25 - march 14 1999
chronicle 30, march 15 - may 9 1999
chronicle 31, may 10 - october 24 1999
chronicle 32, october 25 - january 9 2000
chronicle 33, january 10 - april 2 2000
chronicle 34, april 3 - june 25 2000
chronicle 35, june 26 - august 27 2000
chronicle 36, august 28 - october 29 2000
chronicle 37, october 30 - january 14 2001
chronicle 38, january 15 - march 18 2001
chronicle 39, march 19 - may 20 2001
chronicle 40, may 21 - july 15 2001
chronicle 41, july 16 - october 8 2001
chronicle 42, october 9 - december 15 2001
chronicle 43, december 16 2001 - march 3 2002
chronicle 44, march 4 2002 - may 26 2002
chronicle 45, may 27 2002 - september 8 2002
chronicle 46, september 9 2002 - december 9 2002
chronicle 47, december 10 2002 - march 2 2003
chronicle 48, march 3 2003 - may 25 2003
chronicle 49, may 26 2003 - august 10 2003
chronicle 50, 11 august 2003 - 15 december 2003
chronicle 51, 16 december 2003 - 13 march 2004