Bottom Line

The C64 has proposed separate meetings with Félix Tshisekedi and Joseph Kabila to prepare a national dialogue, while rejecting an armed path to power and constitutional changes that could extend presidential tenure. The Ebola outbreak has passed 10,000 confirmed cases, making it the DRC’s largest on record. Fighting continued in Walikale and across approaches to Uvira, while attacks attributed to CODECO killed more than ten people in Djugu.

Politics and Governance

C64 proposes meetings with Tshisekedi and Kabila

After meeting in Rome, the coalition of five opposition leaders proposed separate talks with President Félix Tshisekedi and former president Joseph Kabila to establish conditions for a national dialogue. The C64 rejected taking power by force and constitutional changes that could extend presidential tenure. It called for renewed Angola–Togo and church facilitation, the inclusion of governance questions from the Doha peace process and the release of detained opposition figures, including Prince Epenge.

Katumbi faces property case brought by his half-brother

The Court of Cassation began hearing a property dispute between Moïse Katumbi and his elder half-brother, Raphaël Katebe Katoto. Katumbi is a former Katanga governor, presidential candidate and leader of the opposition party Ensemble pour la République. Katebe Katoto alleges that Katumbi took a villa in Lubumbashi and farms in Haut-Katanga. Katumbi, who is abroad, denies the allegations, and his lawyers contest the court’s jurisdiction.

Tshuapa assembly removes governor

Tshuapa’s provincial assembly voted to remove Governor Armand Yambe Itoko on October 26. The motion accused him of spending more than three months in Kinshasa without sufficient justification, opaque financial management and failing to deliver promised investments. Yambe left Agissons pour la République, the majority party in the assembly, for Alliance des Démocrates Socialistes Congolais on October 11. Both parties belong to Tshisekedi’s governing coalition.

Conflict and Security

Fighting continues in Walikale and Uvira

FARDC and the Kabila-led Front pour la refondation de la nation (FRN), which succeeded AFC/M23, clashed around Luola and Tchad hill in North Kivu’s Walikale territory. In South Kivu, shelling and gunfire were reported around Munanira and Ndolera in Uvira territory. The latest violence follows fighting around Luvungi and renewed clashes near Kifune over the preceding week, sustaining pressure on several approaches to Uvira.

Death toll emerges from CODECO-attributed attacks in Djugu

More than ten people were reportedly killed in October 25 attacks around Muganga and other Lake Albert villages, including a FARDC commander and a child. Several hundred families fled toward Mahagi. In separate attacks on Lodja and Oche, three people were reportedly killed and 15 houses burned. Local sources attributed the attacks to CODECO fighters.

Four FARDC officers tried over Ituri bombing

Four FARDC officers went on trial over a June 2025 bombing at Mabanga in Ituri. Prosecutors accuse the captains and lieutenants of war crimes involving civilian deaths and destroyed homes during an operation against the CRP.

Fifty-four soldiers face trial after deadly Ntoto incident

A military court in Walikale began trying 54 FARDC soldiers on charges including murder, abandonment of position, wasting ammunition and disobeying orders. The case follows an October 20 confrontation at Ntoto: military police tried to stop soldiers returning from the front from passing through the village, and gunfire broke out. One soldier and one civilian were killed; another soldier and civilian were wounded.

Health and Humanitarian

Ebola passes 10,000 confirmed cases; Kisangani clinic closes

The DRC’s Ebola outbreak reached 10,060 confirmed cases and 4,887 deaths as of October 25. It is now the country’s largest recorded Ebola outbreak, surpassing the 3,470 cases and 2,287 deaths in the 2018–20 epidemic. Africa’s largest outbreak, in West Africa in 2014–16, infected more than 28,600 people and killed 11,325.

In Kisangani’s Kabondo commune, the Christ Roi medical center closed after three staff members became infected. The World Food Programme seeks $214 million for assistance in outbreak-affected areas, where it says about 3.5 million people face food insecurity.

Education and Public Services

Assembly recommends sanctions against higher-education minister

The National Assembly asked the prime minister to sanction Higher Education Minister Marie-Thérèse Sombo after a parliamentary inquiry found financial irregularities in the handling of tuition and related fees at public universities in the 2022–23 and 2023–24 academic years. The inquiry examined how institutions distributed and used portions of student fees intended for public education bodies and student services. Separately, 88 lawmakers have reportedly signed a proposed no-confidence motion.

Universities reopen unevenly in Goma and Bukavu despite Kinshasa’s suspension

Kinshasa continues to suspend academic activity at 11 public institutions whose administrators were appointed under FRN control. In Bukavu, the Official University and the Higher Institute of Medical Techniques opened for the new academic year, while the Higher Pedagogical Institute remained closed. Teaching at the open institutions had resumed only for small groups of first-year students. An opening ceremony also took place at the University of Goma. Kinshasa’s refusal to recognize the FRN-appointed administrations leaves students uncertain about their academic records.

Economy, Trade and Infrastructure

Musompo trading services restart as Kolwezi miners continue protests

Mineral-weighing and testing services restarted at the Musompo trading center in Kolwezi. Artisanal miners continued protesting over access to buyers and sales conditions, with some objecting to the distance they must travel to sell through Musompo.

African Development Bank disputes claim that entire PEJAB budget was diverted

The African Development Bank released an accounting of the youth agribusiness project PEJAB after allegations concerning its roughly $57 million budget. The bank says it disbursed 32.7 million of the 41.07 million units of account budgeted and canceled 7.27 million in undisbursed funds. It disputes the allegation that the entire budget was diverted. The Congolese government was the project’s implementing agency; the bank provided financing and oversight.

Buenassa secures provisional status for Lualaba industrial zone

Buenassa received provisional developer status for a proposed 2,000-hectare special economic zone near Lake Nzilo. Its plans include a copper-cobalt refinery, logistics facilities and other mineral-processing businesses. Definitive approval requires further technical, environmental and financial work.

Construction starts on Kindu solar plant

Prime Minister Judith Suminwa launched construction of a solar plant at Mikelenge in Kindu, Maniema. The planned three-megawatt-peak plant includes storage and is intended to supply about 2,700 households, as well as schools and health facilities.

Pension fund membership reaches 1.47 million as reserves top $500 million

The public-servant pension fund’s contributor base grew from about 198,000 in 2022 to 1.47 million in 2025 as teachers, then military and police personnel, entered the system. The fund says contribution income rose by about 81 percent in 2025. Former finance minister Nicolas Kazadi puts its reserves above $500 million.