Free Republic

Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is flaring up again, with a surge in violence that has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. The attacks, which started on March 30 in Beni, North Kivu, have escalated in recent weeks and could get worse for people that remain trapped between the border of Uganda and an area of DRC that is terrorised by armed groups close to the Ebola outbreak that has claimed 1,000 lives, humanitarian agencies warned on Friday May 3. Over April alone, local health authorities in these areas report that over 60,000 people were displaced,...

Kim Endicott and her local driver were abducted last Tuesday in a wild park. Following their kidnapping, a ransom had been demanded for their release. On Sunday, the pair were reported to have been released and returned to Ishasha Wilderness Camp, an area owned by the Wild Frontiers Camp. A ransom was believed to have been paid for their release.

An American woman and her safari guide who were kidnapped in a Ugandan wilderness park and held five days by armed captors were returned unharmed on Sunday after a ransom was paid for their release, authorities said. Kim Sue Endicott of Southern California and her tour guide, Congolese national Jean-Paul Mirenge Remezo, were freed in a negotiated handover, officials said.

The American citizen -- a woman -- and a Ugandan driver were kidnapped at gunpoint at Queen Elizabeth National Park in southwest Uganda, while on a game drive on Tuesday evening, a statement released by the agencies said. Police have dispatched an "elite squad" from the Tourism Police to the park to actively pursue the gunmen and have closed all exit areas on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The American citizen was abducted alongside four people but the unnamed four were freed while the American and her driver were taken from the park, Ofwondo Opondo,...

A judge told a former Uber driver accused of raping a passenger in his car near the iconic Hatch Shell to “please knock it off” when the widowered father of 12 began sobbing uncontrollably at his arraignment today. Mayanja Daudah, 37, of Waltham, whose lawyer said has 12 children, including three sets of twins, was ordered held on $100,000 bail by Boston Municipal Court Judge Richard Sinnott pending a May 1 pretrial hearing. Sinnott further ordered the Ugandan citizen to surrender his passport and be fitted with a GPS tracking bracelet in the event he’s released.

Much of the narrative about aid and Africa is about the need for “reproductive health services”, especially “safe abortion” across the continent. However, Ugandan MPs were left shocked at what Marie Stopes International is doing to women across Africa in the name of reproductive rights. Members of the Uganda Pro-Life Parliamentary Caucus invited Obianuju Ekeocha, the founder and president of Culture of Life Africa to put on a screening of her groundbreaking documentary, Strings Attached Tracing foreign aid money Strings Attached, which had its UK premiere at an event in the House of Commons hosted by the Society for the...

Jesse Watters said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's reported warning to her moderate colleagues could signal a looming "catastrophe" for the Democratic Party.After more than two dozen moderate Democrats broke from their party's progressive wing and sided with Republicans on a legislative amendment Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) reportedly sounded the alarm in a closed-door meeting Thursday and said those Democrats were ("putting themselves on a list.") Ocasio-Cortez reportedly said she would help progressive activists unseat those moderates in their districts in the 2020 elections.

The virus moved near the Uganda border after a woman who had participated in burials of Ebola victims refused a vaccination in Beni and disappeared, local officials have said. She died on Sept. 20 at a hospital in Tshomia on Lake Albert, which separates the countries. see also Ebola deaths in Congo rise to 26, health ministry says The second confirmed Ebola case in Tshomia was the woman’s partner, WHO said. The U.N. refugee agency on Friday said it was “gravely concerned” for civilians’ safety in North Kivu, which has the highest number of displaced people in Congo with an...

GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — At least 14 civilians were killed on Saturday in a six-hour attack by rebels on the town of Beni in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials told Reuters, warning the unrest may hamper efforts to quash an Ebola epidemic in the area. The latest outbreak of the deadly disease has been focused in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, which have been a tinder box of armed rebellion and ethnic killing since two civil wars in the late 1990s. Militants believed to belong to the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Islamist group active in...

It was a real honor to interview Dr. Iddo Netanyahu—notable historian and brother of the Israeli PM—for this podcast episode about one of the most inspiring chapters in Israel's modern history: "Operation Jonathan—The Most Daring Rescue Attempt in History."

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has issued what he calls a "public warning" against oral sex. The president claims the practice has been pushed on Ugandans by "outsiders," and argues that the mouth is solely for eating. "Let me take this opportunity to warn our people publicly about the wrong practices indulged in and promoted by some of the outsiders," he told the press during an address. "One of them is what they call oral sex. The mouth is for eating, not for sex. We know the address of sex, we know where sex is," he continued. According to the Daily...

Citizens from more than 30 countries around the world appealed to the UN Secretary-General to suspend UN Human Rights Commissioner Zaid Ra'ad al-Hussein after calling Judea and Samaria communities a "war crime", following the latest report he issued regarding the pace of construction for Jews in Judea and Samaria. "While tens of thousands of people are being slaughtered in Syria, and while women's rights are being disregarded in Iran, the Human Rights Commissioner is issuing a report on the settlement movement in Israel, which details construction information, calling it a war crime", mentioned the letter. "The Commissioner' s obsession with...

Here is some of what is posted on the page: Jan. 17 — The chimpanzee version of the AIDS virus appears to be extremely rare in wild chimps, which suggests the apes evolved a way to deal with the killer virus generations ago, researchers said on Thursday. The study also confirmed earlier theories that AIDS passed to humans from chimps in Central Africa, they said SCIENTISTS HAVE long known nonhuman primates carry their own version of the AIDS virus. But so far, it has been found only in captive chimpanzees. No one knows how prevalent or geographically or genetically diverse ...

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni praised President Trump for being “frank” following the president’s alleged remarks calling certain countries “sh**hole countries” in a meeting on immigration earlier this month."Donald Trump speaks to Africans frankly. Africans need to solve their problems," Museveni tweeted Tuesday. The third purpose for integration is strategic security. Donald Trump speaks to Africans frankly. Africans need to solve their problems. You can't survive if you are weak. It is the Africans' fault that they are weak. We are12 times the size of India, but why are we not strong?— Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) January 23, 2018 He gave...

The president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni declared his "love" for President Donald Trump. This came after Trump was accused of referring to African nations as "shithole" countries during a meeting with members of Congress about immigration policy. Trump denied making the remarks, but the African Union demanded that he apologize for his "clearly racist" comments.  "America has got one of the best presidents ever," Museveni said during the opening of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. "I love Trump because he tells Africans frankly. The Africans need to solve their problems, the Africans are...

Hilarious video of government of Uganda.

HEALTH bosses have confirmed they are facing an outbreak of the “eye-bleeding fever” after four people died of the suspected disease in weeks. Uganda’s health ministry has today finally admitted it is facing the risk of a large-scale explosion of the viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF). VHF causes victims to suffer a burning fever before beginning to bleed from orifices including their eyes, anuses and mouths. It comes after a girl, nine, was reportedly killed by the infection Uganda, and three people died in neighbouring South Sudan of similar symptoms. Uganda health minster Sarah Opendi confirmed emergency response teams are now...

Fears are growing of a major health crisis in East Africa as a girl died of a suspected fever which could be more deadly than the Black Death. A nine-year-old girl died in central Uganda with the symptoms of an eye-bleeding disease which it is thought could kill up to 40 per cent of those infected by it. The feared outbreak comes only months after hundreds of people were killed by the plague in Madagascar in what was described as the worst bout for 50 years. The symptoms of the new disease include headaches, bleeding, vomiting, diarrhoea and muscle pains

She had contracted the bizarre new disease with similarities to the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. This disease — usually spread by tick bites or contact with infected livestock — can cause muscle pains, headaches, vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding. ... A rapid response health team was rushed from the local hospital with a body bag to collect her and prevent any possible outbreak. Health teams disinfected the girl's home after her death on Thursday night local time, but didn't give her grieving family any details about when they could have her body back. Speaking to local media, family member Harriet Nalunkuma said:...

Quite a banquet will take place Thursday night in London to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration. That’s the letter in which Britain announced its support for the establishment in Palestine of what became the state of Israel. The letter was sent a century ago to a leader of British Jewry, Lord Rothschild, from Britain’s foreign minister, Lord Balfour. The nub: “His Majesty’s Government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” Its enormous impact was acknowledgment by the world’s then-mightiest empire of the legitimacy of Jewish claims to Israel. That the...