"When you have a just cause, people pop up from everywhere to help you." Gandhi

 
 
 
 
 




IN THE NEWS


LAST DAY OF RUIN AT INTIMAN THEATRE SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

From left is Wemba-koy Okonda (President of OkoNGO), Actor Russell G. Jones, US Congressman McDermott, Actor Simon Kashama and Zaki Abdelhamid (Director of INTIMAN THEATRE).

As the President of OkoNGO, I was very happy to see Congressman McDermott came in and spoke out about the sufferance of my people in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last day of RUIN. He lauded the passage of Congo conflict minerals provisions in Wall Street Reform Bill which will require manufacturing companies to be accountable for using minerals in their products that come from mines funding war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The provisions incorporate much of Rep. McDermott's Conflict Minerals Trade Act (H.R. 4128) and will affect companies like Apple, Intel, and HP, requiring them to submit an annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission outlining which of their products are not "conflict-free", meaning they use minerals from mines controlled by armed groups. The conflict in the DRC has become one of the deadliest and most violent in modern history, where the rape of hundreds of thousands of women and girls has been used as a primary tool of war. Estimates show that between 800 and 1,100 people are murdered each day in the country. Funding for armed groups often comes from the sale of minerals (often to American companies) from mines the groups control.

Please read on for news related to the DRC and our organization. We are in the process of updating our website, so please check back often. If you have relevant news items you would like us to post, or if you are from a news organization, you may contact us at media@okongo.org.