Bottom Line

Kinshasa asked the United Nations to suspend new deployments of Rwandan peacekeepers and accused the RDF of carrying out a deadly drone strike at Pinga. Seven civilians were reported killed at Katana, while military-justice investigators prepared to document alleged AFC/M23 abuses across three additional South Kivu territories. Ebola transmission and population displacement are straining health services in Ituri and Tshopo, and the national humanitarian plan remains only half funded. Other developments include $19.2 billion in DRC-China trade, consultations on the World Bank’s next ten-year DRC strategy and new infrastructure for Kinshasa’s overwhelmed waste system.

Security and Diplomacy

Kinshasa seeks suspension of Rwandan UN deployments and blames RDF for Pinga strike

The DRC asked the UN to suspend new deployments and rotations of Rwandan peacekeepers until the withdrawal of Rwandan forces from Congolese territory has been verified.

At the UN, Kinshasa said it was preparing an operation against the FDLR along the Pinga–Mpeti–Lukweti axis and accused the RDF of using a TB2 drone to strike a Congolese position at Pinga on September 28, killing five people and seriously wounding eight. The government asked the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism and MONUSCO to investigate the allegation.

Congolese officials have briefed African Union mediator Faure Gnassingbé on reported progress in the voluntary disarmament and repatriation of FDLR members, although no figures were released. Rwanda, meanwhile, continues to press for verification of the parties’ security commitments.

Seven civilians killed at Katana as military-justice inquiries move beyond Uvira

At least seven civilians, including three women, were reported killed during fighting between Wazalendo and M23 forces at Katana in Kabare territory. The clashes began after Wazalendo attacked M23 positions at Kabushwa on September 26 and displaced residents from several surrounding villages.

Military-justice teams that completed fieldwork in Uvira are preparing deployments to Kalehe, Mwenga and Shabunda to document alleged AFC/M23 abuses. Preliminary inquiries are already under way, including around Bulambika, Hombo and the edge of Kahuzi-Biega National Park in Kalehe.

Separately, fighting in Itombwe involved AFC/M23-aligned Twirwaneho forces on one side and FARDC, Wazalendo and Burundian troops on the other. Incidents between September 24 and 27 around Kashongo, Magunda, Msongyo and Maheta displaced residents and further restricted access to schools, health facilities, farmland and humanitarian assistance.

Health and Humanitarian

Ebola reaches 12 of Mandima’s 18 health areas

Ebola has reached 12 of the 18 health areas in Mandima health zone in Ituri. Misinformation and community resistance continue to obstruct surveillance, treatment and safe-burial work.

In Tshopo, authorities closed a hospital and a school in response to new infections, while displaced people arriving at Belika have placed additional pressure on the local health system. Lubero, in North Kivu, meanwhile discharged its first two recovered Ebola patients.

Humanitarian plan remains half funded as hunger and displacement affect millions

The DRC’s $2.13 billion humanitarian-response plan is 50.5 percent funded. The UN estimates that 26.5 million people face acute food insecurity and 6.1 million are displaced.

Six die amid suspected cholera outbreak in Bokungu

Six people have died and about 40 suspected cholera cases have been reported in Bokungu territory in Tshuapa. The cases appeared after a boat arrived from Kinshasa, although health authorities have not established an epidemiological link with its passengers. Response measures include surveillance, treatment and the temporary closure of a school for decontamination.

Anthrax confirmed in hippopotamus deaths near the Semuliki

The Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation has confirmed anthrax in hippopotamuses found dead around the Semuliki River near Virunga National Park.

The local environmental source has not been identified. Anthrax bacteria can persist as spores in soil, water and vegetation, and herbivores can become infected by ingesting those spores. Contact with or consumption of infected carcasses can transmit the disease to people.

Economy and Trade

DRC-China trade reaches $19.2 billion in seven months

Trade between the DRC and China exceeded $19.2 billion between January and July, according to Chinese Ambassador Zhao Bin. Beijing encouraged Congolese exporters to make greater use of zero-tariff access to the Chinese market and called for broader cooperation beyond mining. The available figures do not provide a breakdown between Congolese exports and imports.

World Bank consults businesses on its next ten-year DRC strategy

The World Bank has begun consultations with Congolese businesses on its 2027–2036 country partnership framework. The bank placed its current DRC portfolio at $8.2 billion and attributed 15,000 jobs to its business-support programs.

Its current operations span governance and private-sector development, health, education, social protection, transport, agriculture, electricity, water, urban development and digital transformation. Geographically, they include health support to more than 3,000 facilities in 12 provinces, urban and water infrastructure in Kinshasa, programs in conflict-affected corridors and forest and carbon-finance projects in Mai-Ndombe.

Governance and Public Services

Kinshasa begins building more than 400 waste collection and transfer sites

Kinshasa has begun building more than 400 neighborhood waste collection and transfer sites. The enclosed sites are designed to hold removable containers and are being equipped with gates, lighting and security.

The city has not disclosed the project’s cost, funding source, construction timetable or arrangements for emptying the containers. Kinshasa generates an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 tonnes of waste a day, with about 98 percent dumped or burned in the open. Its only final-disposal site, at Mpasa, is not operating, and most of the 61 transfer stations installed under earlier sanitation programs are unusable.

A separate $250 million World Bank program approved in April will finance collection points, transfer stations and an integrated waste-management center in selected communes, but authorities have not said whether the 400-site initiative forms part of that program.

Fizi schools remain closed nearly one month into the academic year

Schools in Mulima, in Fizi territory, remain closed nearly one month after the academic year began because of continuing insecurity. The closure is part of a broader disruption of education, health care and farming across the Fizi-Mwenga highlands.

Kenge crash recorder transferred to Kinshasa

Investigators have recovered the flight recorder from the TRACEP aircraft that crashed near Kenge and transferred it to Kinshasa for analysis. The crash killed 17 people, including the country’s two highest-ranking military-justice officials. Investigators have not announced a cause.

Government prepares digital controls against petroleum fraud

The government is designing a digital monitoring system for petroleum-product movements and taxation. A pilot is planned along the DRC’s southern and eastern borders, where fuel smuggling and irregular declarations reduce customs and tax revenue.

Commission planned for Grand Kasaï boundary dispute

Interior Minister Jacquemain Shabani has announced a joint technical commission to examine the boundary dispute between Kasaï-Central and Kasaï-Oriental.

The dispute centers on land around Lake Munkamba, between Dimbelenge territory in Kasaï-Central and Kabeya-Kamwanga territory in Kasaï-Oriental, with parts of Dibaya also affected. Communities have accused one another of crossing administrative and customary boundaries, particularly during planting and harvesting seasons. The commission will include experts from the Congolese Geographic Institute and other technical services.

Government estimates national census will cost $192 million

The government has estimated the cost of the second general population census at $192 million. Household and building mapping in Kinshasa has entered a second field phase. The DRC’s last national population census was conducted in 1984.

Kalemie faces reduced and irregular electricity supply during Bendera work

SNEL will take the main No. 2 generating unit at the Bendera hydroelectric station offline from October 3 through October 12 to recondition its Pelton turbine wheel.

The notice describes reduced or irregular supply rather than a continuous ten-day citywide blackout. A 500-kilovolt-ampere generator installed at the Lukuga high-voltage substation will supply designated strategic facilities, and SNEL expects full service to return on October 12, barring delays.