Tag Archives: Zaire

  COMMENT | ANDREW PI BESI | In 1974, the Congo’s grand dictator completed his “Africanisation” of the Congo by renaming it Zaire. He discarded his birth name and crowned himself Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga — “the invincible warrior cock who leaves no chick intact.” To prove …

United Nations | Xinhua | UN peacekeepers have discovered mass graves in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) containing the bodies of 42 civilians, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday. The victims, including 12 women and six children, were discovered in the village of Nyamamba in the country’s eastern Ituri …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  Thousands of doses of Ebola vaccine arrived Wednesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is facing an outbreak of the deadly virus, the health ministry said. Congolese authorities declared the outbreak in the northwest region near Congo-Brazzaville on May 8, and three have …

THE LAST WORD: By Andrew M. Mwenda Why do many people believe corruption is out of control despite many prosecutions? In October, the Anticorruption Court convicted the main culprits in the theft of pension money. The three men were top officials of the ministry of public service; including the permanent …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | At the sound of Muhammad Ali’s name Martino Kavuala, now a 63-year-old estate agent in Kinshasa, seems to light up as he recalls the “Rumble in the Jungle” back in 1974 which “held us spellbound”. Ali, who died on Friday aged 74, held the …