Bottom Line

Ebola response work has stopped in Damas Health Zone in Djugu, Ituri, because health workers lack protective equipment and have not received risk allowances for three months. Kinshasa authorities say they reached a compromise with the opposition to move today’s demonstration away from Parliament, while restrictions remain in several other cities. Fighting continued across Masisi and Walikale without a verified shift in territorial control. Acute diarrhea has killed ten children in Lubutu, and budget data show no payments by midyear from a CDF 799.32 billion allocation for infrastructure linked to the Sino-Congolese mining agreement.

Politics

Kinshasa protest rerouted as restrictions remain in other cities

The Kinshasa provincial government says it reached a compromise with the opposition to reroute today’s demonstration. The sit-in will end near the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, beside École Sévigné and opposite Stade des Martyrs, rather than at the Palais du Peuple. Authorities cited the legal protection of Parliament’s premises, where lawmakers will open their September session the same day.

Restrictions remain elsewhere. Tshopo Governor Paulin Lendongolia prohibited the Coalition Article 64 demonstration in Kisangani, and similar restrictions have been imposed in Kananga and Lubumbashi. C64 said it would proceed in both cities despite the restrictions, while 12 coalition members were reportedly arrested in Kindu during preparations for the demonstration.

The Kinshasa agreement removes the immediate dispute over access to the Palais du Peuple, but the restrictions elsewhere leave a risk of confrontations with security forces. During C64’s June 12 mobilization in Kinshasa, police dispersed demonstrators with tear gas and witnesses reported the use of live ammunition, while opposition supporters also clashed with members of the UDPS-linked Force du Progrès. C64 and the Catholic Church’s Justice and Peace Commission subsequently reported two deaths; city authorities denied that anyone had been killed.

Eastern DRC Conflict and Security

Fighting continues across Masisi and Walikale

FARDC and AFC/M23 forces continued contesting positions across Masisi and Walikale. FARDC occupied Kibati and Milonge after fighting in Walikale, while AFC/M23 retained Kasopo despite an FARDC-backed offensive in Masisi. A precarious lull followed two days of fighting at Chanjikiro and Buhimba. The locality-level control claims have not been independently verified, and the reporting does not establish a decisive strategic change.

Armed groups accused of destroying crops and forests in Masisi

Masisi civil society says armed groups destroyed hundreds of hectares of banana plantations and reforested land over two months along several routes around the territorial capital. The reported destruction threatens household livelihoods and food supplies to Goma, but its scale and attribution have not been verified.

Government identifies 13,852 Mbororo pastoralists

A government assessment identified 13,852 Mbororo pastoralists in Haut-Uélé, Bas-Uélé and North Kivu. The Mbororo are transhumant Fulani pastoralists whose movement into northeastern DRC has generated recurring tensions with local communities over land, grazing, crops and water. The identification exercise forms part of a broader government response to the issue, which has also become a focus of recent DRC–Central African Republic security cooperation targeting cross-border armed groups and strengthening border security.

Health and Humanitarian

Ebola response stops in Damas as other areas tighten controls

Ebola response activities have stopped in the Damas health zone after health workers went three months without risk allowances and ran short of protective equipment. Community deaths are also complicating surveillance in Bule.

Elsewhere, Bunia prohibited pharmacies from treating Ebola patients, while more than 300 vaccine doses were dispatched to Sud-Ubangi following the province’s first confirmed case. Admissions have declined at the Ebola treatment center in Mongbwalu as national reporting describes a falling transmission curve.

Acute diarrhea kills ten children in Lubutu

More than 70 cases of acute diarrhea with dehydration and ten deaths have been recorded across 12 health areas in Lubutu territory, Maniema. Children under five are particularly affected. Laboratory testing was still pending.

Provincial public-health laboratory network expands

The government is completing and equipping public-health laboratories in Kisangani, Kananga, Mbandaka and Bandundu, while a laboratory in Bunia is already operating. The network is intended to reduce the time required to diagnose epidemic-prone diseases without sending samples to distant facilities.

The importance of decentralized testing was demonstrated at the start of the current Ebola outbreak: initial samples tested in Bunia were negative and had to be sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Kinshasa, where further testing confirmed Bundibugyo virus. WHO subsequently deployed additional diagnostic capacity in Ituri to allow testing closer to affected communities.

Education

Teachers suspend their strike

A national coalition of teachers’ unions suspended its strike, allowing classes to resume in Équateur. The unions said their employment and pay demands remain unresolved.

Economy and Public Finance

Copper exports reach 1.72 million tonnes in the first half

DRC copper exports reached 1.724 million tonnes during the first half of 2026, according to the mining ministry’s technical planning unit. That was 2 percent above the same period in 2025. The same official data indicate that shipments to the United States and Europe doubled as the government sought to diversify export destinations.

Cabinet formalizes DRC–US implementation task force

Cabinet approved a task force to coordinate implementation of economic and security commitments between the DRC and the United States, formalizing a mechanism that was already operating. Prime Minister Judith Suminwa chaired its first meeting in June to coordinate implementation of the broader DRC–US strategic partnership. By then, a bilateral steering committee had been established, Kinshasa had submitted an initial list of strategic mineral assets and around 50 proposed strategic projects were awaiting a US response.

Sino-Congolese infrastructure allocation records no midyear payments

The 2026 budget allocated CDF 799.32 billion for infrastructure associated with the Sino-Congolese mining agreement. By June 30, CDF 32.96 billion had been committed and authorized, but no payment had been recorded on the 2026 budget line.

The slow execution follows earlier delays under the agreement. The 2024 renegotiation increased the infrastructure envelope from $3.2 billion to $7 billion, with Sicomines expected to provide a benchmark $324 million annually for infrastructure. By September 2025, the IMF reported a $642.6 million cumulative implementation shortfall against approximately $1.1 billion in projects programmed for 2024–2026.

Cabinet advances deposit-guarantee and REPAIR measures

Cabinet adopted a decree creating a deposit-guarantee fund and approved financing linked to the REPAIR program. The deposit-guarantee fund is intended to protect depositors if a financial institution fails.

REPAIR—the Regional Emergency Preparedness and Access to Inclusive Recovery program—is a World Bank-backed regional disaster-financing initiative designed to give governments access to financing arranged before disasters and other major shocks. The World Bank approved $150 million for the DRC under the program in July. REPAIR combines reserves, contingent financing and insurance, with funding designed to become available within seven days of a disaster.

ONATRA retirees demand more than 100 months of arrears

Retirees and widows demonstrated at the National Transport Office’s Matadi premises to demand pensions, final settlements and more than 100 months of salary payments owed while they awaited retirement settlements. Some said their claims had remained unpaid for more than a decade.

Governance

Cabinet advances legal framework for official statistics

Cabinet advanced legislation governing the production, publication, protection and archiving of official statistics. The framework covers professional independence, confidentiality and statistical secrecy, as well as the organization of national censuses. It comes as the DRC prepares its first population and housing census since 1984, which could provide the first enumerated basis in four decades for decisions on public-service planning, resource allocation and population-based representation.

Public Safety

Bukavu buries 27 children killed in the school fire

Twenty-seven children killed in the Furaha and Ujamaa school fire were buried in Bukavu. The burial confirms the upper preliminary death toll reported after the fire, which also destroyed surrounding homes in Cimpunda.