Search for Congo flood victims spurs health fears

Father Victor Ntambwe is not content with just reciting psalms during mass on Sunday mornings in Congo's capital. With presidential elections just months away, he has more earthly concerns.

Amid already high tensions between Kigali and Kinshasa, Rwandan forces fired at a fighter jet from Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday which they accused of violating Rwanda's airspace.

The head of the Ukrainian Red Cross has told DW that Russian land mines are spread across "significant areas" of the country. He said the mines pose a threat to civilians, humanitarian work and reconstruction efforts.

The Rwandan government says it had to take "defensive measures" after a Congolese combat plane violated its airspace. The Democratic Republic of Congo says the incident amounts to an "act of war."

At the start of a trip to Democratic Republic of Congo, Pope Francis has said that Africa is not a "mine to be stripped" as he took aim at the "poison of greed" fueling conflicts on the continent.

Pope Francis strongly denounced the "economic colonialism" which "is unleashed" in Africa and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), on the first day of his visit to the country. "After political colonialism, an equally enslaving economic colonialism was unleashed.

Large crowds turned out in the Democratic Republic of Congo's for mass with Pope Francis. The pontiff is on a six-day trip to the continent.

A papal mass drew a crowd of over a million people to Kinshasa this week. Prayers were said for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the power of the Catholic Church is a counterweight to the state.

Rwanda-backed rebels stirring ethnic divisions: Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned of a dangerous escalation of tension between ethnic Tutsi and Hutu communities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, as a result of fighting involving a militia that Rwanda is accused of backing.

After Ornella lost several family members over the space of three years, relatives and neighbours in her east Congo village of Kabare began suspecting the 14-year-old of witchcraft. It is not uncommon in some African countries for frail children like Ornella, who suffers from a genetic form of anaemia, to be considered a bad omen and blamed for the mishaps that hit isolated and impoverished communities.

More than 20 acts from across Africa have shown support for victims of conflict at a music festival in eastern Democratic Republic of COngo - taking to the stage despite rising insecurity in the area.

The European Union says it will soon deliver aid to people in need in the Democratic Republic of Congo's conflict-stricken North Kivu province.