President Joseph Kabila’s party, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), and its allies will hold a majority of seats in the new parliament, according to the results of the Nov. 28 parliamentary elections published by the Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday.

Etienne Tshisekedi's call for a general strike beginning Monday around the Democratic Republic of Congo has largely been ignored. Mbuji-Mayi, in Kasai Oriental Province, was the only major city in the country to experience major disruptions on Monday as most schools and businesses remained closed.

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 global rainforests, second only to the Amazon. Scientists and conservationists met at Oxford University to discuss changes the forests are expected to undergo in the 21st 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.

The main opposition party in DR Congo has denied that its supporters were involved in Saturday's attack against the country's Senate president in Paris. "The Congolese in the diaspora always attack all those who work against their interests. They want change and they have always fought for institutionalization of democracy and constitutionalism in DR Congo," a UDPS official told a press conference on Monday in Kinshasa.

The head of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Senate is in a French hospital after being attacked on New Year's Eve in Paris. Seventy-six-year-old Leon Kengo wa Dondo was assaulted Saturday evening in the French capital.

Etienne Tshisekedi inaugurated himself as the president of Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday. The ceremony was staged at his home after police prevented him and his supporters from holding the event at Stade des Martyrs. Mr. Tshisekedi swore “before God and the nation to uphold and respect the Constitution and laws of the Republic and to defend its national unity and territorial integrity.”