Etienne Tshisekedi announced during a press conference on Friday that he was “officially assuming his functions as the head of state elected by the people.” Mr. Tshisekedi has rejected the results published by the electoral commission and upheld by the Supreme Court declaring Mr. Kabila the winner of the Nov. 28 presidential election.

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for the members of the Independent National Electoral Commission to change their practices or resign following the mismanagement of last year's presidential and parliamentary elections. The bishops said that they “believe the electoral process was marred by serious flaws that call into question the credibility of the results published” by the electoral commission.

The African continent contains about 30 percent of the world’s globalrainforests, second only to the Amazon. Scientists and conservationists met atOxford University to discuss changes the forests are expected to undergo in the21st Century. Africa’s tropical forests face challenges from deforestation, hunting, logging and mining, as well as climate change.

A joint mission of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations has ended its visit to the Central African Republic, vowing "to act and ensure the eradication of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)." The "urgent need to finish LRA" was voiced by the head of the UN Regional Bureau for Central Africa (UNOCA), Abou Moussa, and the AU special envoy on the issue of LRA, Francisco Madeira.

At least 26 people have been killed in attacks by a Rwandan militia group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congolese army says. It says several remote villages in South Kivu province have been targeted since the start of January.

• • UDPS Denies 'Henious' Attack on Senate President
• • Senate Chief Hospitalized in Paris After Attack
• • Tshisekedi Stages Self-Inauguration at Home
• • In Inauguration Speech, Kabila Vows to Speed Up Modernization
• • Tshisekedi Says He Is President-Elect, Asks Security Forces to Arrest Kabila
• • Tshisekedi Says He Won, Can He Prove It?


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