BRAZZAVILLE, 13 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - The government must harmonise its national laws with the various international treaties it has ratified to better protect its citizens' rights, human rights NGOs in the Republic of Congo have said.Full report

BRAZZAVILLE, 7 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Some 504 Emerald Primary School students, in the northwest of Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, have been transferred to another school because of soil erosion that has created a huge chasm near their classrooms, the school's management said.Full report

BRAZZAVILLE, 2 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Authorities in the Republic of Congo have banned soldiers of the Congolese Armed Forces from carrying weapons and wearing military fatigues in public, military officials said. Full report

BRAZZAVILLE, 27 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - Following several armed hold-ups during the last two months in the Republic of Congo's Pool region, the Dutch branch of Medècines Sans Frontiéres (MSF-Holland) has temporarily suspended its activities in the area.Full report

BRAZZAVILLE, 24 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - Newly elected African Union head, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, has ruled his country twice - from 1979 to 1992 and then again from 1997 to date.Full report

BRAZZAVILLE, 18 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - Worsening insecurity has forced the International Committee of the Red Cross to pull out of Pool, a troubled region in the Republic of the Congo. Full report

NAIROBI, 12 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - 7 Jan 2005 – President Denis Sassou-Nguesso reshuffles his cabinet for the first time since his electoral victory in 2002. The new, 35-member cabinet includes five women, an increase of two. Critics complain the new line-up shows no opening-up of the Republic of Congo’s (ROC’s) political space. Full report

NAIROBI, 9 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - Year in Review 2005: Great Lakes - Returnees and refugees.Full report

BRAZZAVILLE, 4 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - The World Bank and the Republic of Congo have signed an agreement for a US $17-million grant to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate 30,000 former combatants in the country. Full report

BRAZZAVILLE, 28 Dec 2005 (IRIN) - Torrential rains have caused widespread flooding and mudslides in the northern suburbs of Brazzaville leaving scores of people homeless.Full report

CONGO: Year in Brief 2005 - A chronology of key events

GREAT LAKES: Year in Review 2005 - Returnees and refugees

CONGO: In the forgotten Pool, Kindamba’s residents have yet to return

CONGO: DDR programme only partially completed

CONGO: Rural residents left high and dry for lack of clean water

CONGO-DRC: Resumption of river traffic a great relief to the public

CONGO: Hunter-gatherers face starvation following a hunting ban

CONGO: Rwandan refugees reluctant to return home