The struggle for justice and peace in Congo has cost many human lives, caused horrendous suffering and destruction. What is needed now is for all actors to set aside their differences and hold a national dialogue in the interest of the people.

Rebels have set up a de facto administration in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said as the Security Council urged a political solution to the crisis rather than applying sanctions. Ladsous briefed the 15-member Security Council after his recent visit to Congo, or the DRC, and Rwanda, which has been accused by Kinshasa and UN experts of supporting the M23 rebel group. Kigali has repeatedly denied any involvement in the crisis.

Will the West’s decision to endorse Joseph Kabila in the recent controversial DRC presidential election withstand the test of time? Is Kabila in a suitable position to guarantee peace and stability in the DRC for another five years, as the West seems to believe? The West’s intent to return to ‘business as usual’ with Kabila appears to be not only an improvident decision, but also, a clear expression of its double-standards.

'It’s possible that two children died so that you could have that mobile phone,' says Jean-Bertin, a 34-year-old Congolese activist who wants to end the 'absolute silence' around the crimes committed in his country to exploit strategic raw materials like coltan. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has at least 64 per cent of worldwide reserves of coltan, the colloquial African name for a dull black ore composed of two minerals, columbite and tantalite.

Since the start of the month the death toll of the Ebola outbreak in the north-east has climbed from 15 to 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, defining the situation 'serious'. Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based agency, stressed that 'it is unusual that the first person to be infected was a health worker'. The areas affected by the outbreak are Isiro and Viadana (70km apart), in the Eastern Province (north-east).

There has been a big push to lower political temperatures in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but President Joseph Kabila could emerge weaker, and his silent dependence on his East African neighbours to hold on to power could deepen. The conflict in eastern DR Congo that flared up recently, threatened to suck several countries into a new war, and set neighbouring Rwanda on a collision course with its international allies, improved quickly over the past week.

Conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where M23 rebels and other armed groups are fighting government forces, is dangerously undermining efforts to combat a cholera outbreak. There has been 'a sharp increase in the number of cholera cases in the armed conflict area of North Kivu' Province, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement. Between 11 June and 1 July some 368 new cases were reported.

DRC President Joseph Kabila has visited the Angolan capital Luanda to mobilise support over the ongoing crisis in the Central African country. Currently, DRC is trying to neutralise an armed insurrection by the M23 rebel group, which, according to UN and Kinshasha, is supported by Kigali, claims that Rwandan officials have denied. More than 200,000 people in the region have been displaced by the conflict.

In a new report, 'Asset laundering and AIM: Congo, corporate misconduct and the market value of human rights', the business and human rights organisation Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) catalogues the inadequacies of the London Stock Exchange's regulatory framework. The Central African Mining and Exploration Company plc (CAMEC) was allowed to trade and flourish on London's junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM) despite its close links to Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party (Zimbabwe), the dubious provenance of its Congolese mining assets and the unsavoury reputation of key business associates.

United Nations helicopters have fired on rebel positions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after new clashes broke out between rebel fighters and loyalist troops, officials have said. The airbourne action followed renewed clashes that broke out between M23 rebel fighters and loyalist troops, north of the regional capital Goma. The second such UN action against rebels came in response to a rebel offensive 'against the civilian population', Mamodj Munubai, a spokesman for MONUSCO, the UN mission in DR Congo, said on Tuesday, 24 July.

In the eastern Congo, a onetime rebel leader charged with a range of war crimes lived in high style for three years, in full view of a large United Nations peacekeeping force. How did the UN find itself in the middle of one of the world's bloodiest and most unmanageable conflicts? And why are its troops picking sides? These are the questions this Wall Street Journal article investigates.

Non-governmental organisations in the Democratic Republic of Congo province where Thomas Lubanga Dyilo used children as fighters in his militia in 2002 to 2003 have slammed his 14-year sentence as inadequate - and potentially dangerous. The International Criminal Court sentenced Lubanga, a former leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots, to 14 years in prison for recruiting children during a bloody conflict in the northeastern DRC province of Ituri. 'Fourteen years is a joke. Taking into account the six years he has already spent in prison (since his arrest in 2006), he will serve only eight more,' Joël Bisubu, from the NGO Justice Plus, told IPS.

"It is essential that the ICC undertakes adequate and swift outreach to victims and affected communities to explain the sentence and what the next steps are, including reparation proceedings."

Rebels from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have taken control of three towns in the country's eastern North Kivu province, a spokesperson for the group has said. The rebels, known as the M23 movement, had taken Rutshuru and the towns of Ntamugenga and Rubare, less than 10km away, on the road to the provincial capital Goma, by midday (local time) on Sunday. The rebels said they did not face any opposition from the FARDC, the DRC's national army.

Journaliste en Danger (JED) says it is outraged by the prolonged and illegal detention of Bruno Kabwe, interim director of Radio Parec, a community radio station based in Kalemie, in Katanga province, on the orders of a colonel of the armed forces (FARDC). According to information obtained by JED, Bruno Kabwe was arrested on 22 June 2012 and was immediately taken into custody at the headquarters of the 61st Brigade. He remains in detention and is prevented from having visitors. Kabwe is accused of having made 'rude' comments about Jean-Marie Izumbu, the colonel in question and the commander of the 61st Brigade of the FARDC.

Message of solidarity and indignation from the Africa Region 1 of La Via Campesina after our comrades Alberto Gomez and Fatimatou Hima have been expelled from the Kinshasa airport, DRC, respectively in the evening of the 29th of June and 1st of July 2012.

Gold traders in the eastern Congo district of Ituri have heard of the Dodd-Frank act, or 'Obama's law' as it's known here, but don't see why it's got anything to do with them, reports Reuters. The legislation, signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, puts the onus of proof on end-users. But while it has sent shockwaves through the global gold industry, the fractured and opaque nature of the gold supply chain means it has yet to have an impact where it counts - on the ground.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sought a 30-year sentence for Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga. In March, the Hague-based court found him guilty of recruiting and using child soldiers between 2002 and 2003. At that time, an inter-ethnic conflict was raging in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lubanga headed a rebel group.

A growing cholera outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed nearly 400 lives and affected more than 19,100 people since January, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 'The total number of cholera cases in 2012 is around 90 percent of cases reported last year. Since January 2011, 983 people have died from the outbreak affecting eight of 11 provinces of the country,' Yvon Edoumou, OCHA spokesman, told a news conference.

The UN refugee agency reported on 29 May that the recent fighting in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has left more than 40,000 people internally displaced. UNHCR staff in North Kivu province say most of the internal displacement is taking place in Rutshuru territory, north of the provincial capital, Goma. Between May 10 and May 20, one of UNHCR's local NGO partners registered more than 40,000 internally displaced people in Jomba and Bwesa sectors.