coupures 21 juin 07 (eng)

'We Die Again'
Rape, murder and unrest are still part of daily life in eastern Congo. A young victim tells of her sexual assault and the kidnapping of her twin sister during the worst massacre in two years.
By Kevin Sites, Wed Jun 20, 9:38 PM ET
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Editor's Note: This is part of a series of occasional updates on conflicts the Hot Zone reported on last year. This information, including the eyewitness account, was gathered with the help of local journalists and non-governmental organizations in the region.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has seen more than its share of killing, but despite a new democratically elected government and a war that has been officially over for four years, the bloodshed and sexual violence continues. Yet news of the turmoil rarely seems to reach beyond Africa.
In the most recent incident, 18 civilians, including six children, were killed in a nighttime raid in three villages in the Walungu region of volatile eastern Congo on May 26.
Another 29 people were seriously wounded and 12 others kidnapped in the attack, according to a spokesman for United Nations peacekeeping forces there.
The UN blamed the massacre on a dozen men from the Rwandan Hutu rebel group known by its French acronym FDLR, or the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.
The FDLR is made up of Hutu members of the former Rwanda Army (defeated by Tutsis now in charge in Rwanda) and the Interahamwe militia, a Hutu paramilitary organization which was largely responsible for planning and carrying out the 1994 Rwandan genocide and whose members fled into the jungles of Eastern Congo in the aftermath.
UN military officials believe there are at least 10,000 FDLR Hutu rebels in eastern Congo. The UN's largest peacekeeping force in the world, 17,000 troops, is based in the DRC with most in eastern Congo. Together with DRC government soldiers, they've conducted numerous offensives to root out the Rwandan Hutu rebels, but with marginal success so far.
Local news reports say the May 26 attackers in Walungu left notes on the bodies of those they killed, stating the massacre was in retaliation for a UN/DRC offensive against them that began in April. They also vowed to return.
Witnesses also say the attackers were wearing the uniforms of DRC government troops and killed many of their victims while they slept, using machetes, sticks, knives and guns. They fled when a UN patrol reportedly fired on them as they were entering the third village.
The FDLR's leader denies the rebels were responsible, saying the group has never attacked civilian populations. He's called for an investigation into the killings.
This latest attack was the worst massacre in two years. In May 2005, 19 civilians were hacked to death in the same province, South Kivu. In July that year, 40 people, mainly women and children, were burned to death in their homes. Both incidents were blamed on the Hutu rebels.
Many Congolese hoped the national violence might subside with democratic elections that resulted in Joseph Kabila remaining president of the DRC, after a fall run-off election. But with a poorly paid, barely trained and ill-disciplined national army, the government's efforts to provide security and stability continue to be challenged.
As many as four million Congolese people died during the 1998-2003 civil war that pitted foreign troops from Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia—supporting DRC President Laurent Kabila (Joseph Kabila's father)—against rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda.
It became known as Africa's "First World War" and was prolonged, if not altogether motivated, by the effort to control eastern Congo's rich trove of diamonds, gold and other mineral resources.
The following is an eyewitness account by a young woman whose family was attacked during the May 26 massacre in a group of villages known as Kaniola. The area has been a frequent target of violence by Hutu militia. Her name has been changed to protect her from retribution.
"My name is Kahumba and I am 23 years old. The night of May 26 is a night I will never be able to forget. We were sleeping in our house when we heard a lot of commotion. People in the village were crying out "kandi rhwamafa," (a Mashi expression which means, "we die again." Mashi is the local language spoken in Kaniola).
"My mother told us to crawl under our beds. Five minutes later I heard them coming to our door. They forced it open and entered our house. Three Interahamwe with guns and machetes entered our house. They were wearing the uniforms of FARDC troops (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) but they were speaking Kinyarwanda (the chief language of Rwanda).
"They shot and killed my elder brother immediately. It instantly brought back the memory of how they had killed my father last year. One of them grabbed my twin sister and raped her. Another one pulled me from under the bed where I was hiding. He stuffed a piece of cloth in my mouth and then raped me. When he was finished the third one also raped me, all the time saying to me, "If you make noise we kill you. Don't you see where your brother is lying on the floor?"
"I asked him to have mercy on me, but he said, "If you say that again we will kill you too." After he finished, he pushed a bottle into my sex (vagina). It was too painful. When they were leaving to go back into the bush, they grabbed my twin sister. My mother pleaded with them to let her go. She said she would give them two goats and 6,500 Congolese francs ($13) if they released her. But they took the money and the goats—as well as my sister.
"In the morning my mother and I walked very far to Muzinzi (a camp for internally displaced persons) to see a nurse. It was very difficult for me because of the pain. In Muzinzi we met other girls who had also been attacked. A car from [a German aid organization] took us to Bukavu for more medical care.
"As I wait in Bukavu, I feel there is no more reason to live because at any time I can be killed like my brother, my father and other people in our village. I don't feel well and I don't know if I was infected with the HIV virus during my rape. I'm speaking and walking, but with so much suffering in my heart. Why did this happen to Kaniola? What did we do before the eyes of God ? I believe the Interahamwe want to kill us all.
"My twin sister is still in the forest with our attackers. I don't know if she's alive or dead. I don't want to go back to home. Now when I dream, I only see people who come to kill me."
-The International Rescue Committee (IRC) operates a "rapid response" program in eastern Congo which, along with help from local organizations, assists victims of sexual violence. Learn more about those efforts here.
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Congo violence worries UNSC
Associated Press
Thursday, June 21, 2007 (Kinshasa)
The United Nations Security Council has expressed ''unease'' about the escalation of violence in Congo's lawless east.

''For each member of the Security Council it's a real unease,'' said France's UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere.

De la Sabliere is a spokesperson for the 15 members of the Council who stopped in Congo as part of a tour of Africa's hotspots.

Extremist attacks

Congo's troubled east, which borders Rwanda, has been the scene of frequent raids on villages by ex-Rwandan rebels.

The rebels are believed to have set up camps in Congo after being chased out of their own country.

Those behind the attacks, including a raid last month that killed two dozen villagers, are believed to include members of Rwanda's extremist Hutu militias.

Volatile situation

The Security Council met newly elected President Joseph Kabila to broach the subject.

''It seems to me that we need to address in depth the problems of eastern Congo -- and to do that, it's essential to first address Congo's relationship with Rwanda,'' de la Sabliere said.

Some 17,000 UN peacekeepers are stationed in Congo, which last fall held its first democratic election in four decades, choosing Kabila, a warlord turned politician.

The majority of the peacekeepers are deployed in the volatile east.
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UN mission urges political solution in east Congo
By Joe Bavier
KINSHASA, June 20 (Reuters) - U.N. Security Council ambassadors called on Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday to work with neighbouring Rwanda to find a political solution to violence in its eastern border region.
Fighting between Tutsi-dominated Congolese army brigades and Rwandan Hutu rebels has led to targeted killing of civilians, rape, and the displacement of more than 120,000 people in Congo's troubled eastern Kivu provinces since January.
"It seems to us that the problems in the east must be solved in depth, and, in this respect, the relationship with Rwanda is essential," France's ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, told reporters at the end of a visit to Congo.
"The solution cannot be solely military ... We think, in order to solve these problems so that the civilian population isn't victim of the situation in the Kivus, a global strategy using political actions and diplomatic actions is needed."
De la Sabliere was speaking at the end of a five-country tour of Africa by U.N. Security Council ambassadors.
The central African nation held its first democratic elections in more than four decades last year, won by incumbent Joseph Kabila, but violence has continued in the east.
North and South Kivu have long been flashpoints of instability in the volatile region, harbouring foreign rebel groups from neighbouring Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda as well as homegrown fighters.
The provinces were the launching point for two separate Rwandan-backed Congolese rebellions in 1996 and 1998, the latter of which triggered a six-year war which killed an estimated 4 million people, mainly through hunger and disease.
Fighters from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan rebel group partly composed of Hutus responsible for the killing of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994, have lived in eastern Congo since the genocide.
Soldiers loyal to renegade Congolese General Laurent Nkunda, a Tutsi brought back into Congo's army, have vowed to drive out or destroy them.
The Security Council last month renewed the mandate of the 17,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission until Dec. 31.
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Capital Resource Funding Enters Into Contract to Acquire the Mining Rights to African Congo Cobalt Mine
Wednesday June 20, 8:30 am ET

- To Increase Production Margins by Mining Cobalt Ore into Finished Products, Including Lithium Ion Batteries -
LIAONING PROVINCE, China, June 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Capital Resource Funding Corp. (OTC Bulletin Board: CRFU - News), soon to be known as China Sun Group High-Tech Co., announced today that the Company's majority-owned subsidiary, Dalian Xinyang High-Tech Development Co., Ltd. ("DLX") that has the second largest cobalt series production capacity in China*, has signed a cooperation contract with Shengbao Group and South African Shengbao Mining Enterprises ("Shengbao") to purchase the prospecting and mining rights of a cobalt mine in Lubumbashi, Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the agreement, DLX will own the rights to 80% of the mined cobalt, while Shengbao will own the remaining 20%. Shengbao will also be given a right to purchase any surplus cobalt mined, once DLX has filled its backlog of orders. This contract completes the Company's preliminary Letter of Intention previously announced on June 6, 2007. DLX indicated it expects to close on the acquisition in 30 days.
DLX also announced that it plans to set-up its own facility near the mine to produce finished cobalt products from raw cobalt ore. Wang Bin, chairman and CEO of Capital Resource Funding, said, "This contract is another important step towards our goal of creating an end-to-end supply chain for finished cobalt ore products. By setting up a facility near the mine, we are at an advantage to provide superior quality-controlled products, increase the extraction rate of the cobalt, and decrease our production costs by creating a direct channel from the mine to the processing plant." Additional details of the transaction can be found on Form 8-K filed with the SEC and available at http://www.sec.gov.
*Source: The China Battery Industry Association
About Capital Resource Funding, Inc.
Capital Resource Funding, Inc., pending a corporate name change to China Sun Group High-Tech Co., produces anode materials used in lithium ion batteries. Through its wholly owned operating subsidiary, Da Lian Xin Yang High-Tech Development Co. Ltd ("DLX"), the Company primarily produces cobaltosic oxide and lithium cobalt oxide. According to the China Battery Industry Association, DLX has the second largest cobalt series production capacity in China. Leveraging on its technological leadership in China, high- quality product line and scalable production facility, DLX plans to create a fully integrated supply chain from the primary manufacturing of cobalt ore to finished products, including lithium ion batteries. For more information, visit http://www.china-sun.cn/English/Aboutus.asp.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this press release which are not historical data are forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors not under the company's control, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from the results, performance or other expectations implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, those detailed in the company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Source: Capital Resource Funding, Inc.
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DRC calls for political, financial support for security



Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) 's government appealed here Wednesday to the international community for political and financial support to help consolidate reforms aimed at improving the security situation in the country.
DRC's minister of state for agriculture Francois Joseph Mobutu Nzanga, who is currently acting prime minister in the absence of Antoine Gizenga who is on a visit abroad, made this appeal during talks in Kinshasa with members of the visiting UN Security Council delegation.
Nzanga discussed with the UN delegation issues related to the government's program, security situation in eastern DRC as well as the forthcoming local elections in the country.
He told the delegation that the completion of democratization process in DRC is a high priority concern for the DRC government.
Source: Xinhua





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Blackburn to decide on £1.4m striker deal

09:54 21/06/2007

Rovers have been pressed for an answer by AS Roma on the future of Shabani Nonda

The DR Congo international scored 7 league goals for Blackburn while on loan from the Italian side last season and impressed manager Mark Hughes who must now decide whether to take up an option to sign the player permanently.
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