Born as Zaire (renamed in 1997), possessing vast mineral riches and nearly unanimously Christian, the DRC has followed a familiar African pattern: Western colonisation followed by independence, civil war, fragmentation and dictatorship. The current situation, as summed up by Freedom House: “political corruption, weak rule of law, and violence”. For the past two decades, a Uganda-born rebel movement has taken root in eastern DRC, obtaining the support of jihadist organisations. A 2017 United Nations report concluded that the increasingly Islamist rebel movement has been responsible for “widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law”.
DR Congo – Islamist militias threaten central Africa too
In Africa, it isn’t only in the west that Islamist insurgencies are posing a security threat. While attention has been focused on Nigeria’s radical Islamist group Boko Haram (whose attacks have spread to neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger), a relatively unknown militant group has intensified attacks in the Democratic Republic […]
Scores dead in DR Congo attacks
A group of Ugandan rebels are suspected of killing more than 20 people in an Oct. 16 attack on the town of Beni in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Beni’s mayor said the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamist force with hopes of establishing Islamic law in Uganda, was behind the […]