DRC – 2 July 2015

DRC court convicts 14 rebels of ‘terrorism’
A court in Beni, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s northeastern region, convicted 14 people on Monday for “terrorism,” a local legal source told Anadolu Agency.
According to the court, the convicts were members of a network that supplied the Allied Democratic Forces (AFD), a Ugandan rebel group based in eastern DRC, with material for producing homemade bombs.
News Video.US

DRC to Offer Training for Former Child Soldiers, Sex Abuse Victims
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government has launched a training program for former child combatants and victims of sexual violence.
Nearly 80 people crammed into a small village hall Friday in Nyiragongo territory in eastern Congo to witness the signing of an agreement to help young victims, and perpetrators, of recent violence rebuild their lives.
Voice of America

The Democratic Republic of Congo might break up its provinces. Then what?
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – a country the size of Western Europe with a population of about 70 million – plans are underway to divide its existing 11 provinces into 26. Known in the DRC as découpage, this policy was mandated in the new 2006 constitution, but has yet to be carried out. Incumbent President Joseph Kabila has set a June 30 deadline for finally implementing découpage.
Dividing regional political units, such as provinces or districts, in order to create new ones is common around the world. In a recent article, we document that almost half of all sub-Saharan African countries have substantially increased their number of regional political units since 1990. Fragmenting regional governments has also occurred in the wake of decentralization reforms in numerous countries, from Hungary to Indonesia and Brazil.
The Washington Post