Sources: all.Africa.com, IRIN, Radio Okapi, CongoForum
Dec.3 2007
-Concern is growing over the fate of 40 000 internally displaced people in Nyanzale in North Kivu. Nyanzale came under attack by forces loyal to dissident general Laurent Nkunda on 2 December. Fighting continues on 3 December as the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) attacked the stronghold of Mushake, about 40 km west of Goma. Nearly 400 000 people have been displaced by fighting since late 2006, while incidents of sexual violence and recruitment of children into armed groups have soared.
-The US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ms Jendayi Frazer, told reporters in Washington: "We have been urging Nkunda and the government of Kabila to try to end the conflict through peaceful means and we think the best way for Nkunda is to go in exile".
-DR Congo has come up with a plan to end the FDLR presence on its soil. Regional governments including Rwanda are to meet this week to assess the viability of the plan.
Dec. 5 2007
-US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, met Ugandan President Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame as well as the DRC Foreign Affairs, Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi, in Addia Abeba (Ethiopia) to discuss the problems of the Great Lakes Region. They decided to commit to the rapid strengthening of the security institutions on the DRC and to ask for international help in doing so.
Dec. 6 2007
-International donors meeting in Paris last week promised $ 4 billion for Congo for 2008 -2010. However, President Kabila said the level of assistance provided by Congo's traditional European and North American partners falls short of the country's needs. So the Congo is ready for new partnerships after securing $ 5 billion from China. The China deal earmarks $ 3 billion for strategic hightway and railroad projects. The remaining $ 2 billion targets the revival of the mining sector.
-Sources told Agenzia Fides: "Violence is reported only in north Kivu, southern Kivu is quiet.( …) However it should be remembered that the main cause of the fighting in East Congo are its natural resources. The blame is put on the 'negative forces', but who can explain why these men, wanted by international Justice, and in an area where UN peacekeepers are present, are so well equipped? Their weapons are better than those of the regular army. Whose are the helicopters which fly over the area where these militia are to presumably supply them. Do they fly away empty or loaded with minerals?"
Dec. 7 2007
-In response to allegations of corruption in three projects, INT (Worldbank Integraty Department) assembled a mission to travel to Congo in March of 2006. Among the allegations were assertions of diversion of funds from the National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reinsertion (CONADER), the counterpart agency chosen to implement the $ 100 million Emergency Demobilisation and Resinsertion project, one of the suspect operations. (..)The report of the March 2006 mission has never been released, despite repeated requests for it.
Dec. 11 2007
-MONUC is helping the Congolese armed forces to plan a counter-offensive after dissident troops loyal to renegade gen. Nkunda recaptured the key town Mushake (40km n.w. of Goma).
Dec. 12 2007
-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on the forces of Laurent Nkunda to lay down their arms.
-Officials from Uganda and Congo will meet in Kampala to discuss a dispute over their border bisecting an oil exploration hotspot. The discussions will cover security, oil exploration and other trans-boundary resources like water. Heritage Oil Corp and British-based Tullow Oil are both drilling in concessions around the Lake Albert.
Dec.14 2007
-The UN peace-keepers, MONUC, are forming a line against the rebels at the town of Sake, 28km north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu. They are expecting reinforcements from South African peace-keepers with seceral hundred troops. An Indian battalion about 800 men is also on its way to North Kivu.
Jan. 2 2008
-In an interview with Antonio Guterres, UN High Commisioner for Refugees by Frances Williams in Geneva, Guterres said: "The problem of Congo is that governance is very limited and the support of the international community is also very small in comparison with the dimensions of the problem.(..)From the humanitarian point of view it represents probably one of the worst situations in the world, not only due to the instability factor but also to widespread poverty throughout the country. A lot of international attention is given to crises like Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia, but very little attention is geven to Congo.
Jan. 7 2008
-The Conference for Peace and Development in North and South Kivu has been started at the Free University in Goma. Abbé Malu Malu, the president of the conference, said that "time for peace has come". He was addressing hundreds of participants, including government representatives, ambassadors, traditional chiefs and delegates of Nkunda's dissident National Congress for the People's Defense (CNDP).
Jan 15 2008
-Seraphin Ngwei, roving ambassador of president Kabila, said at the peace conference in Goma, that 30 % of members of the FDLR were actually Congolese citizens, and called them to hand over their weapons before a forcible disarmament operation in mid-March. He said the government on 1 January launched a public campaign to encourage members of the FDLR to disarm and volunteer for repatriation to Rwanda. Volunteers would be accomodated in camps managed by the MONUC and members of the FDLR suspected of having committed crimes would be brought to justice. After mid-March, military operations with a view to forcible disarmament will begin.
Jan 23 2008
-A peace agreement ("acte d'engagement") is signed in Goma by the CNDP of Nkunda and various armed groups in the Kivu's. It included an immediate cessation of hostilities, disengagement of troops and the creation of a buffer zone, controlled by MONUC. It include also the establishment of a technical committee to regulate the "brassage" (enrolment) of the dissident military groops in the regular army. The Congolese government agreed to bring to parliament a draft law on amnesty for insurgency.War crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, however, will be excluded from the legislation.
Feb 7 2008
- According to a document leaked last year, 61 mining licenses granted before mid-2006 are under review by the Congolese government. At the mining Indaba Conference in South Africa, the Congolese vice-minister of Foreign Affairs said the process of revisiting mining contracts should not provoke feelings of insecurity among the investors.
Feb 14 2008
-US President, George Bush, who is expected in Rwanda on February 19, is to discuss the situation in Congo with his Rwandan counterpart, a diplomatic source has revealed. Bush's visit comes at a time when America is seen as a close ally of Rwanda. Bush's Rwanda visit also comes at a time that the US is planning to establish its African Defence Command in Africa (AFRICOM).
Feb 15 2008
-The UN Security Council today extended its arms embargo and other sanctions against militias operating in Congo until the end of March.
Feb 19 2008
- The government have delivered the findings of the Commission for reviewing the mining contracts to the companies. The companies have one month to react.
Feb 20 2008
-The UN Group of Experts dealing with illegal arms flows into Congo has called for the strengthening of the monitoring capacity of the MONUC. In recommandations in its report they say that MONUC should be notified of all incoming shipments of military supplies in a timely fashion.
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
chronicle 52, 14 maart 2004 - 20 juni 2004
chronicle 53, 21 juni 2004 - 3 october 2004
chronicle 54, 4 october 2004 - 19 december 2004
chronicle 55, 20 december 2004 - 27 february 2005
chronicle 56, 28 february 2005 - 22 may 2005
chronicle 57, 23 may 2005 - 14 august 2005
chronicle 58, 15 august 2005 - 2 october 2005
chronicle 59, 3 october 2005 - 15 december 2005
chronicle 60, 16 december 2005 - 26 february 2006
chronicle 61, 27 february 2006 - 21 may 2006
chronicle 62, 22 may 2006 - 28 august 2006
chronicle 63, 29 august 2006 - 1 december 2006
chronicle 64, 2 december 2006 - 11 maart 2007
chronicle 65, 12 march 2007 - 3 june 2007
chronicle 66, 4 june 2007 - 9 september 2007
chronicle 67, 10 september 2007 - 2 december 2007