A man best known for the attention he draws on film screens is turning his attention to a conflicted African nation. Actor Ben Affleck has recently written his observations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for Time magazine. Affleck has traveled to the area several times. In his Time submission, he writes: “In the past 10 years alone, millions have died here, and more die each day as a result of the conflict. Most die not from war wounds, but from starvation or disease…That should not be the case in Congo.”
 

The arrest of a Congolese rebel leader on Friday is encouraging news to both Rwandans and Congolese citizens. Tutsi Laurent Nkunda was captured, bringing hope to officials that their governments can work more effectively to end war. “We think this is a major development in the peace process,” says Madnodje Mounoubai, a United Nations Mission spokesman. “It is also amazing that the two governments are working together. Nkunda’s arrest, it’s hoped, will cause 1,500 soldiers still loyal to him to join in the peace effort. 

Congo Doctor is ‘African of the Year’ Dr. Denis Mukwege, who operates a clinic treating rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been named “African of the Year” by a Nigerian newspaper. He says his award of $20,000 will be put toward funding a center to help rape victims come back into their societies, reports the BBC. In the conflict-ridden Congo, all of the warring sides have “declared women their common enemy,” Mukwege said.  His clinic, the Panzi hospital, assists women who’ve been raped with both physical and psychological injuries, including some who have contracted HIV from their attackers. “I am pleased to accept this award if it will highlight the situation of women in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” he told the BBC after accepting the award at a ceremony in Nigeria. This is the newspaper’s first African of the Year award. Former Tanzanian leader, Salim Ahmed Salim, was on the newspaper’s selection panel. “This is a person who has been involved in the protection of women under difficult circumstances, often at the risk of his own life,” he told the BBC. Mukwege was also given the Olof Palme prize for outstanding achievement in promoting peace.
Zimbabwe’s Cholera Deaths Near 2,000 The death toll from Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic has reached 1,937, reports CNN. The outbreak of the water-borne disease started in August, and since then almost 40,000 people have been become infected by the illness, according to the World Health Organization. The spread of cholera is preventable, and some health experts blame the Zimbabwean government, led by controversial longtime President Robert Mugabe. The spread of the epidemic, they say, is mainly due to the failure to import enough water-cleansing chemicals. Many residents have had to get drinking water from rivers and wells because the water taps are dry; the nation’s trash-disposing systems aren’t operating. These factors serve only to worsen the situation, as it keeps many from having access to clean water. After Mugabe declared the epidemic a national emergency last month, worldwide charities such as WHO, Oxfam, USAID as well as some foreign governments have tried to help with the situation but there has been little improvement in that span of time.

Bermuda Celebrates 400 Years
The Caribbean island Bermuda is celebrating its 400th anniversary this year. The island was settled by the English back in 1609 and is one of the oldest British overseas territories. Activities to celebrate began this past weekend with a cultural program attended by hundreds of people, including Bermuda’s governor, Sir Richard Gozney, and Premier Ewart Brown, who talked about the island’s survival in the face of the world wide financial crisis, reports Caribbean Net. “If one country can deal with economic hardships, it’s Bermuda. If there is one country on the face of the planet who will survive in these circumstances, they are the people of my country,” he told a local paper, adding that 400 years of survival is already an amazing accomplishment. Gozney predicted a bright year ahead, saying 2009 was “set to be as special as the last 50 years, if not 100 years.”
 
Congo’s Ebola Outbreak Puts Angola on Alert
In response to an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, neighboring Angola has decided to close its border with Congo, reports CNN. Since November, there have been 41 cases of the virus in the nation and 14 people have died, according to the World Health Organization. There are still 183 cases still being investigated, and two people have been quarantined. Angola’s Health Minister Jose Van-Dunem recently announced the “suspension of migratory movements” at a border between the nations as a precaution.  The organization believes that the outbreak may be due to people having contact with infected dead monkeys in the forest. The Ebola cases are in the western Kassi province in the nation.

One child dies, one wounded in civilian Congo camp. A 5-year-old is dead while a 7-year-old recovers from bullet crossfire in the Congo where they’d been displaced by war. The girls were at a civilian camp Friday where many of 250,000 people have fled this year due to battling between government and rebel troops. A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner (UNHCR) for Refugees says it doesn’t appear that the girls were targeted. But a woman was raped by armed men near the civilian area this week. “We remain extremely concerned for the safety of the displaced Congolese population in Kibati as the civilian character of these two UNHCR-run camps north of Goma is continually violated,” the UNHCR said in a statement.

Jamaica will keep the death penalty. On Tuesday, the Jamaican Parliament voted against banning the death penalty, reports The Associated Press. The measure was rejected with no problem; 34 parliament members voted to keep capital punishment and 15 voted against it. Even though the death penalty has been legal in the Caribbean island nation, the courts haven’t used the punishment, so the last execution in the country was about 20 years ago. But recently, with Jamaica’s soaring crime rate and an increase of crime against children (including the disturbing cases of a girl who was beheaded and a boy whose body was found cut up in a trash can), many people have demanded that courts start condemning people to death penalty again. Prime Minister Bruce Golding promised to resume death-penalty sentencing as a means to slow the nation’s crime rate, which is among the highest in the world. But people against it say the death penalty won’t do much to fight crime. “What has happened that will change the circumstance of one murder? It’s a complete waste of time; we should be focused on apprehending people who commit crimes, getting them before the courts and the courts ruling expeditiously on those matters,” the director for Jamaicans For Justice said. The island, with a population of 3 million people, already has had 1,240 murders so far this year, coming close to last year’s total of 1,400. In comparison, Chicago, which has a population of about 2.8 million had 443 murders in 2007.
Rapes are up in the Congo. Rapes are on the rise in the conflict-ridden Democratic Republic of Congo, says aid organization World Vision. The fighting between the government and rebels also has made it more likely for children to be recruited as soldiers, the group says. “A silent war has been waged against women and children. Women and girls in the hundreds have been targets of opportunistic and brutal rape, while children are also being targeted for recruitment or re-recruitment as child soldiers,” World Vision’s Africa advocacy director told CNN. The group took a survey of children at six refugee camps in the nation and found that 120 girls under 17 said they had been raped in October. Only five children reported rape in April and June, the group says. Fighting in the nation has forced about 250,000 people to leave their homes. The United Nations is set to send more than 3,000 more troops into the nation in the coming weeks to help the peacekeeping force currently there.

U.N. official says both sides are to blame for Congo crisis. Both rebels and government forces are to blame for violence in Congo that has forced 250,000 people from their homes, according to a United Nations official. In his report for the U.N. Security Council, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wrote that the country’s army and police “were responsible for a large number of serious human rights violations during the reporting period [from July to November], namely arbitrary executions, rape torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.” The Tutsi rebel forces, led by Gen Laurent Nkunda, also took part in atrocities including “mass killings, torture abductions, forced recruitment of children, forced displacement and destruction of camps, forced labor and sexual violence,” said the report. It also says that the government arrested human rights activists and journalists. Last week, an additional 3,000 U.N. peacekeeping troops were approved to be deployed into the nation to help stop the fighting.

Jamaica is “not in crisis,” says official. The current economic crisis is hitting the world hard, but Jamaica’s finance minister insists the problems are not so bad in his country, reports the BBC. Unlike other countries like the United States, Audley Shaw doesn’t believe Jamaica needs a national rescue plan. While he expects tourism to be down, Shaw says Jamaica’s economy is “not in crisis.” The nation’s economy will be soothed by an expected decrease in its energy bill along with reasonably priced loans from financial agencies. Shaw did announce some budget and debt reforms.

Tanzanian husband tries to sell his albino wife. Police caught a man in Tanzania trying sell his albino wife for $3,000, reports the BBC. He allegedly tried to make the sale to two businessmen from Congo, police say. His wife (who’s not pictured) did not know she was about to be sold. Albinos have been a target for killings in the country, mainly because many witchdoctors claim that albino body parts make their magic potions stronger. Police arrested the husband, a fisherman, after receiving a tip. The businessmen, though, escaped and are thought to have returned to their native country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tanzania has asked the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to help find them. Just since March, at least 27 albinos have been murdered in the country. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has ordered a crackdown on such killings, and 170 witchdoctors have been arrested as a result. The condition affects about 1 in 20,000 people all over the world, but it seems like the figure is much higher in Tanzania. According to the Albino Association of Tanzania, while there are only 4,000 registered albinos in the nation, there could actually be as many as 173,000. The nation is conducting a census to find out what the real number is.

The world isn’t doing enough to help Congo, says agency. When it comes to helping out with the crisis in Congo, the world is dragging its feet, said Oxfam International head Juliette Prodhan. The latest fighting in the nation, between government troops and rebels lead by Tutsi Gen. Laurent Nkunda, has caused 250,000 people to flee from their homes. “There appears to be no urgency in the international community’s talks on the crisis, but this is a deeply urgent situation. The world is failing in its responsibility to protect the Congo’s innocent civilians,” Prodhan said in a written statement, reports CNN. The refugee camps to which many flee are in poor shape, with constant outbreaks of disease due to unsanitary conditions. Workers from Oxfam have visited camps across the Democratic Republic of Congo and found that “civilians continue to face widespread brutality.” Rape and forced labor are also prevalent throughout the nation and are on the rise. There are United Nations peacekeepers in Congo, but they have been ineffective in stopping violence. In total, the country has 17,000 international peace troops and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the European Union to send in 3,000 troops. With the country’s suffering, Oxfam is teaming up with other organizations to provide help. “It’s a traumatized population of people who didn’t have very much. They’ve been on the road now for weeks, and they’ve lost everything they have, and they’re in a very vulnerable situation,” Oxfam spokesman Chris Black told the news service.

Fighting flares up again in Congo. Despite rebels declaring a ceasefire in the nation last week, fighting has flared up again in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reports the BBC. It was the government that first broke the ceasefire, according to rebel leader Gen. Laurent Nkunda. When rebels took over the town of Kiwanja from a militia, they forced thousands of residents out of the area so they could search the town. Fighting in the nation has forced at least 250,000 to leave their homes. But in the city of Goma (where many citizens have fled to) the ceasefire looks like its working for now. And United Nation’s troops want to make sure it stays that way. In fact, the peacekeeping troops were ordered to fire on any other armed groups who try to come into the city. Fighting in the city would worsen the humanitarian crisis in the nation. In Kiwanja and surrounding areas, refugee camps have been wiped out and violence has resulted in charity workers not being able to distribute aid. Earlier this week, hungry refugees in the nation were angered when a U.N. humanitarian convoy delivered only soap, medical supplies and water containers, instead of food, to a camp in Kibati, home to tens of thousands of refugees. The U.N. contends that providing supplies to looted hospitals, along with soap and water containers to control the spread of disease, is a priority, reports The Associated Press. When thousands waited for energy biscuits, but were given tokens, to exchange for food later it didn’t make the situation any better. “We really need to rethink humanitarian aid. If you can’t help people, don’t create false hopes,” said Onesphore Sematumba, who is from the Pole Institute, a Congo think tank. To that issue, the U.N. insists that they had to use the tokens to help control and ration out food aid.

World Lens: From the coasts of Africa to India to Europe, the world is in an Obama frenzy. Plus, a Voodoo ceremony in Haiti and journalists protest in Sudan. See pictures.

Congo refugees are leaving unsanitary camps. Unsanitary conditions at camps are forcing thousands of Congo refugees to flee the havens and return to dangerous areas controlled by rebels, reports CNN. Even though the refugees had left villages where many were killed and raped as recently as a week ago, the lack of water, food or sanitation at the camps was too much to bear. There are many others, though, who are continuing to flee their homes due to rebel fighting, leaving aid centers overwhelmed. International officials traveled to the country to assess the situation. “The immediate needs are obvious. We saw them yesterday. The cease-fire last Wednesday needs to be bolstered,” British Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a joint statement. “The humanitarian needs for food, shelter, water and health care must be met through universal provision and secure routes for delivery.” After four days of fighting last week, rebel forces from the National Congress for the Defense of the People called a ceasefire Wednesday. And they appear to be following through with it, although troops from both sides have been seen gathering near the cease-fire line, reports CNN. The rebels, who are Tutsis, are at odds with the government because they feel they aren’t doing enough to protect the group from attacks from the country’s majority Hutus.

Fighting between Dominicans and Haitians flares up. Fighting near the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic has been on the rise recently, reports Caribbean Net News. In Guayubin, a town in the Dominican Republic that sits near the Haitian border, a large mob of Dominicans burned down a Haitian shantytown.  About 30 houses were set ablaze during the rampage and people were forced to run away in fear. The act of violence was in retaliation for the murder of a Dominican farmer, who was allegedly killed by a Haitian immigrant.  And just on Monday more violence from Dominicans seeking revenge (this time because of a Haitian who allegedly stabbed a Dominican taxi driver as he was allegedly trying to steal his motorcycle) resulted in two Haitians being killed and more injured. The governments of both nations are appealing to citizens to be peaceful, especially in the border towns. Police presence in the area has also been elevated.