Been a bit dodgy since the Belgians left. Indigenous 'home rule' has had a difficult time catching on.
The United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
refugee agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday that fighting in the southeast of the country had displaced an estimated 13,000 people.
"We are afraid some 13,000 displaced people soon may not have enough to eat," UNHCR front man William Spindler told news hounds in Geneva, Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
People in the area are "also having trouble getting health care and education because so many state-employed medics and teachers have fled," he added.
Spindler said that the uptick in violence in recent weeks between the Ninja Nsiloulou rebels and government forces has included an attack on a military vehicle in the southeastern district of Mindouli that killed two people.
The rebels, who fought two civil wars against the government in the 1990s, were seen as having been mostly disbanded after agreeing to a peace accord in 2003. However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
sporadic festivities between the two sides have continued ever since.
In October, at least 14 people, including children, were killed in an attack on a train in Mindouli. The assault was blamed on the Ninja rebels.
The situation in Congo-Brazzaville had been tense since a constitutional referendum in October 2015 removed a two-term limit on the presidency, allowing the 72-year-old leader to run in the 2016 election.