FELIX TSHISEKEDI

A local official in eastern Congo says the death toll from recent floods has nearly doubled to almost 400 people, The administrator of the Kalehe territory of South Kivu province told The Associated Press by phone that more bodies were recovered Sunday, including many found floating in Lake Kivu.

The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Congo has risen beyond 200, with many more people still missing, according to local authorities in the province of South Kivu.

Congo’s former rebel leader jailed by the International Criminal Court, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has been appointed Congo’s Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in a Cabinet reshuffle.

A summit on how to protect the world’s largest forests underway in Gabon is set to be dominated by the issue of who pays for the protection and reforesting of lands that are home to some of the world’s most diverse species and contribute to limiting planet-warming emissions.

Local climate activists in Congo are hoping Pope Francis’ visit will help spur action to protect the country’s rainforest from oil and gas interests.

President Joe Biden says he will visit sub-Saharan Africa next year, announcing the trip as he wrapped up a U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington.

Congo's government says the number of people killed by widespread floods and landslides in the capital Kinshasa has climbed to more than 140.

Congo's military says some 3,000 people have stepped forward to join the military's fight against M23 rebels in the country's east.

Few men in power have delved deeply into gender equality on the main stage of the United Nations this month.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has lashed out against archrival Rwanda.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday rebuked Rwandan authorities over democracy and human rights concerns, saying the central African country may not reach its full potential without opening up political space and protecting freedoms.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was “concerned” about reports of the detention of an opposition political leader in Congo.

A Congolese government spokesman says President Felix Tshisekedi will meet with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame in Angola amid rising tensions between the two neighboring countries.

Pope Francis has greeted members of the Congolese community in Rome after knee trouble forced him to cancel a planned pilgrimage to Africa.

Pope Francis is urging the people and leaders of Congo and South Sudan to “turn a page” and forge new paths of reconciliation, peace and development.

East Africa’s leaders have responded to the threat of war between Rwanda and Congo by instructing a new regional force to deploy in eastern Congo and ordering an immediate cease-fire.

Congo's president is accusing Rwanda of trying to occupy his country’s land for its vast mineral wealth.

Belgium’s King Philippe has expressed his “deepest regrets” to Congolese lawmakers for abuses committed during colonial rule.

Kenyan authorities say that some Congolese armed groups participating in peace talks in Kenya have asked for more time before laying down their weapons, signaling the talks have not made a breakthrough.

The Vatican says Pope Francis is planning to visit Congo and South Sudan in July.

Uganda has slammed as “undue interference” the International Court of Justice’s ruling that it must pay $325 million to Congo over violence in the late 1990s.

China is urging its citizens to leave three provinces in eastern Congo as violence intensifies in the mineral-rich region.

African leaders and campaigners are pressing the international community to do more to support efforts to adapt to climate change, seizing on evidence showing the continent to be the most endangered by the effects of global warming.

The U.S. and European Union have reached an agreement to settle their diplomatic rift over Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs.

Presidents Joe Biden and Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have discussed a U.S.-brokered deal between pharmaceutical maker Moderna and the African Union to make up to 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine available to the continent.

The inequity of COVID-19 vaccine distribution came into sharp focus Thursday as many of the African countries whose populations have little to no access to the life-saving shots stepped to the podium to speak at the U.N.’s annual meeting of world leaders.

The U.N.’s top climate official is urging governments to stop their “deferral and delay” tactics and instead embrace rapid, widespread measures to curb and adapt to global warming.

Egypt and Sudan are urging the U.N. Security Council to undertake “preventive diplomacy” and call for a legally binding agreement to resolve a dispute with Ethiopia over the availability of water from its dam on the Nile River.

More than 20 African heads of state and top officials from European governments, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to seek an additional $100 billion for reviving Africa’s economies crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Emmanuel Macron’s plans for bringing France out of the pandemic aren’t just about resuscitating long-closed restaurants, boutiques and museums, but about preparing his possible campaign for a second term.

Thousands have protested and two people were killed in Chad in demonstrations against the rule of a transitional military council headed by the son of the late President Idriss Deby Itno, who was killed last week.

Members of the military carry the body of former president John Magufuli to lie in state at Uhuru stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Saturday, March 20, 2021. Tens of thousands of Tanzanians came out to view Magufuli's body at Uhuru Stadium in the country's largest city, Dar es Salaam, over the weekend. Suzan Mtua, 30, died with four school-age children from the same family when there was a stampede of people wanting to view the body Sunday, Heri Mtua, a family spokesman, said. “The children had demanded they also attend the funeral of President Magufuli,” he said. President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was Magufuli's vice president and succeeded him, was joined by nine African heads of state on Monday for Magufuli's state funeral.

And this peace needs justice, truth and reconciliation.”The doctor has a groundswell of support in Bukavu where thousands marched Thursday to demand justice and action from Congo's government and the international community. The report detailed mass killings, sexual violence, attacks on children, and other abuses by rebel groups, foreign armies and Congolese armed forces. In August, Congo President Felix Tshisekedi said that he wants the government to combat the abuses and crimes through justice for past and present crimes. International justice coupled with national jurisdiction could be key “to be able to say simply to all criminals: ‘That’s not accepted. The award was shared with Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman who was raped by Islamic State militants in Iraq and has become a global advocate for victims of sexual violence.

Her friend Lea Tavares Mujinga was even younger the day her mother was forced to give her up: just a 2-year-old toddler. We have been destroyed, both morally and psychologically, Bitu Bingi told The Associated Press on Monday, the eve of the 60th anniversary of Congos independence on June 30, 1960. Excuses are not enough.Now in their 70s, Bitu Bingi and Tavares Mujinga want reparations. There, Tavares Mujinga was reunited with her older brother, who had been seized a few years earlier. Bitu Bingi recalls that food was scarce, and rare were the days when she could properly wash.We did not know how chicken tasted.

FILE - In this June 30, 1961 file photo, Congo celebrates the first anniversary of independence from Belgium with a large military parade in Leopoldville, the capital before it was later renamed in 1966 to Kinshasa, in Congo. On Tuesday, June 30, 2020 Congo is marking the 60th anniversary of achieving independence from the colonial rule of Belgium. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File)KINSHASA Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi vowed to root out the corruption and impunity that has hindered the country since its independence from Belgium as the nation marked its 60th anniversary amid a global reckoning over racial inequality. After independence in 1960, Congo soon fell under the repressive rule of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko who ruled for 32 years. Education, employment, health, infrastructure nothing works because of the poor management and mediocrity of the Congolese political class, Lutunu said.