Today’s news / DR Congo

DR Congo

Physician Denis Mukwege, who was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018, has announce he is running as a candidate in the presidential election in his home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). “My only motivation is to save and develop our country,” Mukwege said Monday in a speech to a cheering crowd of supporters. In his speech, he also criticised DR Congo’s current government. But he did not offer specific suggestions on what he himself would do differently if elected. “What I will do is continue my efforts and my commitment over the past 40 years in the service of my people,” Mukwege said in the speech. The 68-year-old doctor became world famous when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize five years ago for decades of fighting sexual violence. As a gynecologist, he and his team have helped thousands of women who have been victims of rape and other forms of sexualized violence during the civil wars in DR Congo over the years.
     DR Congo is scheduled to hold presidential elections on December 20. Mukwege is running against President Felix Tshisekedi, who hopes to be re-elected. His first term has been marked by economic austerity, epidemics and a deterioration in security in the east of the country. /ritzau/Reuters/