KINSHASA, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Police have arrested the leader of a small opposition party in the Democratic Republic of Congo and charged him with threatening state security, a rights group said Monday.

KINSHASA, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - Thousands of Congolese packed into a stadium in the capital Kinshasa Sunday to pay their final respects to the country's best-known musician, Papa Wendo, who died on July 28 aged 83.

Among the mourners were senior government figures, parliamentarians, diplomats, artists, fellow musicians and ordinary Congolese.

KINSHASA, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - Civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to face widespread attacks, sexual violence, looting and forced labour six months after the signing of a ceasefire agreement, human rights groups said Tuesday.

GENEVA, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - Red Cross officials announced Tuesday they had launched a major relief operation for 40,000 civilians forced to flee the violence in an eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

KINSHASA, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - Veteran world music star Papa Wendo, considered the father of the Congolese Rumba, has died aged 82, an NGO announced Tuesday.

The musician 'died Monday at 5:00 pm following a long illness,' Shaka Kongo, head of Artists in Danger told AFP. He was admitted to intensive care at a Kishasa clinic on Monday suffering organ failure.

KINSHASA, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Central African states must agree a common action plan to coordinate farming and food imports in response to the global food price crisis, a regional conference was told Monday.

KINSHASA, July 27, 2008 (AFP) - Two men accused of taking part in the murder of an opposition politician earlier this month were arrested Sunday in the Democratic Republic of Congo, police said.

The men, one of whom was unnamed and the other identified only as Kadi, were part of a group of 10 people detained in a suburb of the capital Kinshasa.

KINSHASA, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - The World Bank is to give the Democratic Republic of Congo 1.2 billion dollars (765 million euros) in development aid, its managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said Friday.

KINSHASA, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - A boat tragedy on a river in a remote part of Congo ended in the drowning of at least 45 passengers, while more than 70 others remain unaccounted for, officials said Friday.

KINSHASA, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - At least 42 passengers drowned and more than 100 are missing after their boat sank on the river Oubangui in the Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials and a radio report said Friday.