:
Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire)
November 17, 2007: At least
232 "child soldiers" had been released from serving with Congolese militias,
including 182 children were freed from a Mai-Mai militia brigade operating in
North Kivu province (the Baleine Brigade in Beni, North Kivu). Many "child
soldiers" serve as arms and ammunition carriers in militia and rebel groups.
For example, many of the young hostages taken by the Lords Resistance Army in
Uganda were essentially "supply and service personnel" for the rebel fighters.
In some documented cases in the Congo, children age 12 and 13 have participated
in combat as soldiers bearing weapons.
November 15, 2007: Celestin
Chibalonza, the governor of South Kivu province (eastern Congo) was impeached
and removed from office. He was accused of failing to end the violence in his
province, as well as corruption. The governor is a member of President Joseph
Kabila's political party. It isn't clear if this is a step toward long-promised
government reforms promised by Kabila's government. It may just be that the
situation in South Kivu is so bad, and the government so incapable, that the
parliament members acted out of desperation. If that's the case, this is the
right kind of desperation. Corrupt governments are both a symptom and cause of
instability.
November 13, 2007: The
government said that the agreement signed with Rwanda was a step toward
disarming the FDLR (a combination of Congolese rebels and the Rwandan Hutu
Interahamwe rebels).
November 10, 2007: Rwanda and
Congo reached an agreement to "end threats to peace" that affect both
countries. The agreement outlines ways the two countries can cooperate to
resolve security threats in their common border region, especially coordinated
action against "irregular groups" (ie, militias). Of course there are a lot of
those.