Striking nurses and health workers in Mbandaka will join a door-to-door cholera vaccination campaign running November 6-15. Their unions say the strike goes on, and hospitals and health centres remain closed.
Nurses and health workers in Mbandaka, in DR Congo's Equateur province, have agreed to join a cholera vaccination campaign while their strike continues. Radio Okapi reported that they made the decision this week. The campaign runs from November 6 to 15. The seven health sector unions in Mbandaka reached the decision at an extraordinary session. Alain Lingoma, coordinator of the Equateur health inter-union, said the move responds to a humanitarian need. The outbreak is hitting the city and its surroundings hard. The unions first secured approval from their national leadership in Kinshasa. "The cholera epidemic is severely shaking the city of Mbandaka and its surroundings. It is a situation we have never known," Lingoma said, according to Radio Okapi. Deaths…
Tuesday's US midterm vote could change who controls Congress, which approves the funds behind Kinshasa's deals with the Trump administration, Actualite.cd reported. At stake are a $1.2 billion health pact and a minerals partnership.
DR Congo has a stake in Tuesday's US midterm elections, Actualite.cd reported in an analysis published before the vote. For Kinshasa, the key issues are funding for health cooperation and oversight of the Trump administration's economic commitments. The outlet said the vote alone will not decide whether the agreements survive or collapse. Americans voted for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 Senate seats. Governors, state lawmakers and local officials were also on the ballot. The president leads foreign policy, but Congress approves federal funds. Its committees can hold hearings, review spending and question programme officials. According to Actualite.cd, a new majority could change how commitments to Kinshasa are funded and monitored. The outlet stressed that this is an institutional possibility, not a given. Health cooperation shows what is at stake. A five-year memorandum signed on February 26, 2026, has an announced value of $1.2 billion. It provides up to $900 million in US support and a $300 million increase in Congolese national health spending. The programmes cover HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child health, and disease surveillance. Actualite.cd noted that this money has not yet been paid out. The State Department plans to mobilise the aid together with Congress, so budget votes will matter. The strategic partnership signed on December…
DR Congo's Justice Ministry has barred new inmates from Kinshasa's Makala central prison, except in exceptional cases. The prison was built for 1,500 people but now holds more than 16,000, the ministry says.
The Congolese government has stopped new admissions to Makala central prison through the Ministry of Justice, Radio Okapi reported. Only exceptional waivers will let new detainees in. Officials describe the ban as temporary. The numbers explain why. Makala was built for 1,500 people. According to the Justice Ministry, it now holds more than 16,000. Authorities say security, health and humanitarian concerns over detention conditions drove the decision. Makala is not alone. Radio Okapi…
Business in Butembo, in DR Congo's North Kivu province, remained largely paralysed on Wednesday as traders kept up their strike, Radio Okapi reported. They are protesting against heavy taxes and what they call administrative harassment.
Shopping arcades, fuel stations, shops and small businesses in Butembo stayed shut for a third straight day on Wednesday, Radio Okapi reported. Traders in the North Kivu city are striking over what they describe as a growing pile of taxes and administrative checks. According to the strikers, several state agencies keep stepping up inspections and demands for tax payments. These include national and provincial revenue authorities. The traders say this disrupts the normal running of their businesses. Talks failed last weekend. Traders' representatives met city authorities but did…
The NBA says Rwanda's army-funded APR club was withdrawn from the 2026 Basketball Africa League because of US sanctions imposed in March. The club stays barred while the sanctions remain in place.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has explained why it dropped Rwanda's army team from the Basketball Africa League (BAL). It blamed US sanctions placed on the Rwandan army in March. The NBA had already said Armée Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) would not play in the 2026 season. Until now, it had not said why. NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum gave the reason in a reply to two US senators, the American sports website ESPN reported. Tatum said the team "was withdrawn" from the BAL and would remain "ineligible" to compete. According to The Star, the NBA said APR would stay barred for as long as the US sanctions are in place. Tatum also said the NBA follows US policy when deciding where and how to operate around the world. He said the association condemns human rights violations "wherever they occur", according to ESPN. The senators wrote to the NBA on October 23. Democratic Senator Jeffrey Merkley and Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn gave the league until November 2 to reply in writing. They said the NBA risked "becoming complicit in sportswashing" by taking money from the Rwandan…
DR Congo has ordered an investigation into suspected illegal mining after seizing thousands of tons of copper and cobalt, Semafor reported on Wednesday. Police, soldiers and mining officials also took more than 500 trucks and machines in the southeast.
DR Congo has ordered an investigation into suspected illegal mining, Semafor reported on Wednesday. The order followed the seizure of thousands of tons of copper and cobalt. The justice minister said police, soldiers and mining officials also confiscated more than 500 trucks and machines at several sites in the country's southeast. Semafor said the probe could mark the start of a tougher response to illicit operators occupying mining sites. Some of…
The Coalition Article 64 (C64) says it will meet President Félix Tshisekedi and former president Joseph Kabila separately to push for a national dialogue. It refused to back Kabila's new rebel alliance, saying the crisis has no military solution.
Virunga National Park says lab tests confirmed that anthrax killed 28 hippos in the Semuliki River over about a month. Residents are told not to touch or eat dead animals because the disease can spread to humans.
South Kivu Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi led a peace march in Uvira on Tuesday and put the crowd at more than 100,000. Marchers condemned violence they blame on the FRN, which they accuse Rwanda of backing.
Suspected ADF fighters attacked Maikengu village in eastern DR Congo's Lubero territory on Tuesday, burning homes, shops and pharmacies. Hundreds of families fled Maikengu and Kambau, though local authorities say nobody was killed.
Kenya has spent KSh 147.1 million on a KSh 600 million project to rebuild its properties in Kinshasa, the Daily Nation reports. The work includes the embassy office that protesters vandalised in January 2025.
A Congolese traders' association says two of its members have been missing since September 7 in Kamanyola, South Kivu. It accuses the FRN/M23 of arresting them while they carried $265,000 for more than 85 small traders.
Nearly 50 people held by ADF rebels for two to three months have been freed in Malembi forest, Mambasa territory, Radio Okapi reported. Twenty-nine of them were handed back to their families at a ceremony in Mambasa on Monday.
The Bill Clinton Foundation for Peace has urged DR Congo authorities to ease overcrowding at Ndolo military prison in Kinshasa. The group says its president was harassed during a visit there and wants two long-held detainees freed.
Journaliste en danger (JED) says the media environment in DR Congo is getting worse. Its annual report, published on Monday, cites threats and attacks on journalists and disinformation about Ebola.
Both Ebola treatment centres in Beni, North Kivu, have been over capacity for several days as confirmed and suspected cases rise. Officials said on Monday that nearly 80 patients are in care, including about 10 children, according to Radio Okapi.
The ISP camp for displaced people in Bunia, eastern DR Congo, has a single water source for about 3,500 households, Radio Okapi reported. Residents fear disease and are urging humanitarian partners to step in.
Congolese NGO Justicia Asbl says about 5,000 soldiers and police remain at mining sites in Haut-Katanga and Lualaba. It says this defies a presidential ban announced in July and puts human rights at risk.
Nyaleke, about 15 km from Beni in DR Congo's North Kivu, has had no health facility since its only health post was destroyed in 2016. Pregnant women travel about seven kilometres for antenatal care and deliveries, Radio Okapi reported.
Residents of Kolwezi's Dilungu and Bel Air neighbourhoods marched to Ruashi Mining's site on Friday. They say the company's operations cracked their homes, dried out crops and made people sick, and they want compensation.
A local administrator in Kongo-Central said on Saturday that checks found no suspected infiltrators of Rwandan origin at Joseph Kabila's farm in Kiasungwa. He urged residents to stay calm and not to share false information.
Eric Tabaro Nshimiye, 54, was found guilty in Boston on Tuesday of four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. He fled Rwanda for Kenya in 1994 and entered the US as a refugee in 1995.
A Congolese soldier and three CRP militiamen were killed on Thursday when militia fighters attacked an army position at Bule-centre in Ituri's Djugu territory. Seven other militiamen were seriously wounded, security sources told Radio Okapi.
The US Treasury on Wednesday sanctioned Rwanda's Ministry of Defence and Zigama Credit and Savings Society over alleged backing for M23 in eastern DR Congo. Washington says Kigali sent thousands of troops to fight with the rebels; Rwanda denies backing M23.
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