Gisenyi, Rwanda News

Clashes erupted Monday in eastern Congo between government troops and a rebel group believed to be backed by neighboring Rwanda, the first fighting between the groups since the M23 rebels overtook and later retreated from the provincial capital Goma last year.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame says the UN peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo has "in some cases" made the situation worse.

The body of a Congolese journalist was found on the bank of the Ngezi River near the provincial capital of Bunia in eastern Congo, the city's mayor said Saturday.

Violent clashes between rebels and government troops in the restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have left at least 21 people dead, a military official said on Thursday.

File photo: Rebel General Ntaganda Bosco walks escorted by comrades on January 11, 2009 at his mountain base in Kabati, 40km north west of the provincial capital Goma.

The imminent deployment of a UN-backed 3,000-strong international force mandated to "neutralize and disarm" all armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo marks a switch to a more belligerent international stance towards rebel militia, but has met with scepticism in some quarters.

DRC troops raped at least 97 women and 33 girls, some as young as 6, in the country's volatile east after they fled from advancing M23 rebels in late November, a UN report says.

In this Aug. 5, 2012 file photo, an M23 rebel walks the streets of the North Kivu town of Rubare, near Rutshuru, 75 km north of Goma, Congo.

Democratic Republic of Congo troops went on a rape rampage, attacking at least 135 women and girls as they retreated from a rebel advance in 2012, according to a UN report released on Wednesday.

Brian Barber at his home in Peatmoor. His communications system will help countless women and children vulnerable to sexual assaults A VITAL project to help countless thousands of women and children vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse in a war-ravaged corner of Africa has been completed with the aid of Swindon communications expert Brian Barber.

Britain is negotiating to compensate thousands of Kenyans who claim they were severely mistreated by their colonial rulers during the 1950s Mau Mau uprising, a report says.

Rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have said they are prepared to respond to any attack by the United Nations' first offensive force.

Jan Peter Stellema, the head of Doctors Without Borders' operations in Goma, said civilians in the area had been facing violence regularly.

The M23 rebel movement active in the troubled east of the Democratic Republic of Congo said Thursday it would only resume peace talks if the government signs up to a ceasefire.

Special UN-Envoy for the Great Lakes Region Africa, Mary Robinson, is touring the region for the first time from 29 April to 5 May 2013.

Many observers are wondering if the new force can tip the balance against the rebels.

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- The African community should come together to encourage peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, former Irish President Mary Robinson said.

FILE In this Dec. 1, 2012 file photo, M23 rebels withdraw from the eastern Congo town of Goma.

Avoid all travel to the city of Goma and the province of North Kivu, and all but essential travel to the province of South Kivu and the Ituri region in the province of Oriental.

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon in early April when we called "Brigadier General" Sultani Makenga, the military leader of M23, currently one of the strongest armed groups in eastern Congo.