28, November 2016
UN says four million children orphaned due to violence in Congo-Kinshasa 0
Some four million children have lost at least one parent in two decades of continuous violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations (UN) has announced. The UN said in a report that a total of more than 26 million children have also been orphaned in West and Central Africa, where the DR Congo is located.
This is the second highest number of orphans living in the world behind South Asia, according to the report. “They are the orphans with a story of violence since 1994 — it’s a generation of victims that continues,” says Francisca Ichimpaye, a senior monitor at the En Avant Les Enfants INUKA center. And the children “lose their story in the violence,” Ichimpaye said. Orphans are forced to fend for themselves and their younger siblings. Some of them are vulnerable to recruitment by armed groups; others face sexual exploitation in a country where rape has become commonplace.
The DR Congo, which faces grinding poverty and crumbling infrastructure, has been plagued by ethnic conflict and a fight over valuable minerals since 1998. Civilians are the main victims of the ethnic strife. On Sunday, at least 30 civilians were killed in the DR Congo when militiamen from the Nande ethnic group in the eastern country attacked the village of Luhanga, where the Hutu ethnic people live. The Nande and Hutu groups have been divided along ethnic lines and relations between the two sides have been tense over the past months.
Presstv
1, December 2016
Yang Philemon faces African leaders in Libreville 0
Prime Minister Philemon Yang took part in the security and political crises meeting grouping member states of ECCAS on Wednesday in Libreville. The forum was the 8th Extraordinary Session of the Conference of Heads of State of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) on the political and security situation in the sub region. The Presidents of Chad, Idriss Déby Itno, Rwanda, Paul Kagame and Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera, traveled to Libreville for the summit.
Under the impetus of Ali Bongo, the current Chairman of ECCAS and of the Security and Peace Council of Central Africa (COPAX), the meeting discussed terrorism, electoral issues, Peace building, international peace missions, sub regional integration, youth, the humanitarian situation and maritime safety and security.
Cameroon Concord News gathered that the leaders also agreed to strengthen coordination on surveillance and intelligence gathering efforts between States to prevent the rise of violent extremism and terrorism and support for regional economic integration efforts through inter alia, A Free Trade Area (FTA), enhanced cooperation with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the fight against terrorism and dialogue in the countries of the sub- region affected by political conflicts.
By Chi Prudence Asong