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THE HAGUE, Netherlands – War crimes prosecutors accused former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba on Monday of using systematic rape to terrorize civilians suspected of supporting rebels during a bloody power struggle in neighboring Central African Republic.

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- The U.N. said Monday it had launched a military operation to rescue foreign diplomats inside the besieged home of a Congo presidential candidate.

By William Maclean KINSHASA, April 30 (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council mission opened closed-door talks with Congo's President Joseph Kabila on Tuesday to revive efforts to end Africa's biggest war after the main rebel group rejected a partial peace deal as a sham. The team of 15 diplomats from the world's top security body was led into talks with Kabila by delegation leader Jean-David Levitte, France's U.N. ambassador. Government officials told reporters Kabila would issue a comprehensive statement on the peace process after the talks with the U.N. team, which will also visit Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda....

JOHANNESBURG, April 20 — The collapse of peace talks to end Africa's biggest war in the Democratic Republic of Congo could doom the former Zaire to prolonged conflict or even partition, analysts warned on Saturday. Worse still, they said, the crisis in the mineral-rich state would re-ignite tensions and probably more direct fighting between neighbours Rwanda and Uganda, who each support rival rebel factions in Africa's third largest country. On the economic front, failure to achieve peace in Congo would stunt economic development and deter badly-needed foreign investment in poverty-stricken and war-ridden Africa. Talks to end the war and chart...