title: Italian resistance movement

text: During the waning hours of the war, Mussolini, accompanied by Marshal Graziani, headed to Milan to meet with Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster. Mussolini was hoping to negotiate a deal, but was given only the option of unconditional surrender. His negotiations were an act of betrayal against the Germans. When confronted about this by Achille Marazza, Mussolini said, "They [the Nazis] have always treated us as slaves. I will now resume my freedom of action." With the city already held by resistance fighters, Mussolini used his connections one last time to secure passage with an escaping German convoy on its way to the Brenner Pass with his mistress Claretta Petacci. On the morning of 27 April 1945, Umberto Lazzaro ("nom de guerre" 'Partisan Bill'), a partisan with the 52nd Garibaldi Brigade, was checking a column of lorries carrying retreating SS troops at Dongo, Lombardy, near the Swiss border. Lazzaro recognized and arrested Mussolini. The task of executing Mussolini was, according to the official version, given to a 'Colonel Valerio' (identified as Walter Audisio) and the bodies of Mussolini and Petacci were later brought to Milan and hung upside down in the Piazzale Loreto square. Eighteen executed prominent Fascists (including Mussolini, Fernando Mezzasoma, Luigi Gatti, Alessandro Pavolini and Achille Starace) were displayed in the square; this place was significant because the bodies of 15 executed enemies of Mussolini's regime had been displayed in this square the previous year.


title: Italian resistance movement

text: The total number of victims of the anti-fascist terror remains unclear; it is estimated that between 12,000 and 26,000 people were killed, usually in extra-judicial executions. The outburst was particularly violent in the northern provinces; according to statistics provided by the Ministry of Interior, some 9,000 people were killed there during April and May of 1945 only. Proportionally, the scale of vengeance killings was much greater than in Belgium and significantly above this recorded in France.


title: Italian resistance movement

text: According to a book published in 1955 by an Italian ministerial committee on the tenth anniversary of the Liberation, casualties in Italy among the Resistance movement amounted to 35,828 partisans killed in action or executed, and 21,168 partisans mutilated or left disabled by their wounds. Another 32,000 Italian partisans had been killed abroad (in the Balkans and, to a lesser extent, in France). 9,980 Italian civilians had been killed in reprisals by the German and Fascist forces. In 2010, the "Ufficio dell'Albo d'Oro" of the Italian Ministry of Defence recorded 15,197 partisans killed; however, the "Ufficio dell'Albo d'Oro" only considered as partisans the members of the Resistance who were civilians before joining the partisans, whereas partisans who were formerly members of the Italian armed forces (more than half those killed) were considered as members of their armed force of origin.


title: Italian resistance movement

text: Since 1949, April 25 has been officially celebrated as Liberation Day, also known as Anniversary of the Resistance. Speaking at the 2014 anniversary, President Giorgio Napolitano said: "The values and merits of the Resistance, from the Partisan movement and the soldiers who sided with the fight for liberation to the Italian armed forces, are indelible and beyond any rhetoric of mythicization or any biased denigration. The Resistance, the commitment to reconquer Italy's liberty and independence, was a great civil engine of ideals, but above all it was a people in arms, a courageous mobilization of young and very young citizens who rebelled against foreign power."


title: Inorganic compound

text: In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as "inorganic chemistry".


title: Inorganic compound

text: Inorganic compounds comprise most of the Earth's crust, although the compositions of the deep mantle remain active areas of investigation.


title: Inorganic compound

text: Some simple carbon compounds are often considered inorganic. Examples include the allotropes of carbon (graphite, diamond, buckminsterfullerene, etc.), carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, carbides, and the following salts of inorganic anions: carbonates, cyanides, cyanates, and thiocyanates. Many of these are normal parts of mostly organic systems, including organisms; describing a chemical as inorganic does not necessarily mean that it does not occur within living things.


title: Inorganic compound

text: Friedrich Wöhler's conversion of ammonium cyanate into urea in 1828 is often cited as the starting point of modern organic chemistry. In Wöhler's era, there was widespread belief that organic compounds were characterized by a vital spirit. In the absence of vitalism, the distinction between inorganic and organic chemistry is merely semantic.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: Chevy Chase () is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place (Chevy Chase (CDP), Maryland) that straddle the northwest border of Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Several settlements in the same area of Montgomery County and one neighborhood of Washington include "Chevy Chase" in their names. These villages, the town, and the CDP share a common history and together form a larger community colloquially referred to as Chevy Chase.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: Primarily a residential suburb, Chevy Chase adjoins Friendship Heights, a popular shopping district. It is the home of the Chevy Chase Club and Columbia Country Club, private clubs whose members include many prominent politicians and Washingtonians.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: Chevy Chase was noted as "the most educated town in America" in a study conducted by the Stanford Graduate School of Education, with 93.5 percent of adult residents having at least a bachelor's degree.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: The name "Chevy Chase" is derived from "Cheivy Chace", the name of the land patented to Colonel Joseph Belt from Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, on July 10, 1725. It has historic associations with a 1388 "chevauchée", a French word describing a border raid, fought by Lord Percy of England and Earl Douglas of Scotland over hunting grounds, or a "chace", in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland and Otterburn. The battle was memorialized in "The Ballad of Chevy Chase".


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: In the 1880s, Senator Francis G. Newlands of Nevada and his partners began acquiring farmland in this unincorporated area of Maryland and just inside the District of Columbia, for the purpose of developing a residential streetcar suburb for Washington, D.C., during the expansion of the Washington streetcars system. Newlands and his partners founded The Chevy Chase Land Company in 1890, and its holdings of more than eventually extended along the present-day Connecticut Avenue from Florida Avenue north to Jones Bridge Road.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: Newlands, an avowed white supremacist, and his development company took steps to ensure that residents of its new suburbs would be wealthy and white; for example, "requiring, in the deed to the land, that only a single-family detached house costing a large amount of money could be constructed. The Chevy Chase Land Company did not include explicit bars against non-white people, known as racial covenants, but the mandated cost of the house made it impractical for all but the wealthiest non-white people to buy the land." Houses were required to cost $5,000 and up on Connecticut Avenue and $3,000 and up on side streets. The company banned commerce from the residential neighborhoods.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: Leon E. Dessez was Chevy Chase's first resident. He and Lindley Johnson of Philadelphia designed the first four houses in the area.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: Toward the northern end of its holdings, the Land Company formed a manmade lake, called Chevy Chase Lake, to produce hydroelectric power for its streetcars, and provide a venue for boating, swimming, and other activities. The streetcar soon became vital to the community; it connected workers to the city, and even ran errands for residents.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: Part of the original Cheivy Chace patent had been sold to Abraham Bradley, who built an estate known as the Bradley Farm. In 1892, Newlands and other members of the Metropolitan Club of Washington, D.C., founded a hunt club called Chevy Chase Hunt, which would later become Chevy Chase Club. In 1894, the club located itself on the former Bradley Farm property under a lease from its owners. The club introduced a six-hole golf course to its members in 1895, and purchased the 9.36-acre Bradley Farm tract in 1897.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: In 1906, the Chevy Chase Land Company blocked a proposed subdivision called Belmont after they learned its Black developers aimed to sell house lots to other African Americans. In subsequent litigation, the company and its affiliates argued that those developers had committed fraud by proposing "to sell lots...to negroes."


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: By the 1920s, restrictive covenants were added to Chevy Chase real estate deeds. Some prohibited both the sale or rental of homes to "a Negro or one of the African race." Others prohibited sales or rentals to "any persons of the Semetic ["sic"] race", i.e. the exclusion of Jews.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: By World War II, such restrictive language had largely disappeared from real estate transactions, and all were voided by the 1948 Supreme Court decision in "Shelley v. Kraemer".


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: Lea M. Bouligny founded the Chevy Chase College and Seminary for Young Ladies at the Chevy Chase Inn, located at 7100 Connecticut Avenue). The name was changed to Chevy Chase Junior College in 1927. The National 4-H Club Foundation purchased the property in 1951, turning it into the group's Youth Conference Center. For decades, the center hosted the National 4-H Conference, an event for 4-Hers throughout the nation to attend, and the annual National Science Bowl in late April or early May.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: The National 4-H Club Foundation sold the center in 2021 for $40 million; as of 2022, it is to be replaced by a senior living development.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: In addition to the Maryland villages listed above, the United States Postal Service uses Chevy Chase for some postal addresses that lie outside historical Chevy Chase: in Somerset, the Village of Friendship Heights, and the Rock Creek Forest area, east of Jones Mill Road and Beach Drive and west of Grubb Road.


title: Chevy Chase, Maryland

text: Chevy Chase is served by the Montgomery County Public Schools. Residents of Chevy Chase are zoned to either Chevy Chase or North Chevy Chase Elementary School, which feed into Silver Creek Middle School and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. Private schools in Chevy Chase include Concord Hill School, Oneness-Family School, and Blessed Sacrament School.


title: Column

text: A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. The term "column" applies especially to a large round support (the shaft of the column) with a capital and a base or pedestal, which is made of stone, or appearing to be so. A small wooden or metal support is typically called a "post". Supports with a rectangular or other non-round section are usually called "piers".


title: Column

text: For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces. Other compression members are often termed "columns" because of the similar stress conditions. Columns are frequently used to support beams or arches on which the upper parts of walls or ceilings rest. In architecture, "column" refers to such a structural element that also has certain proportional and decorative features. A column might also be a decorative element not needed for structural purposes; many columns are engaged, that is to say form part of a wall. A long sequence of columns joined by an entablature is known as a colonnade.


title: Column

text: In ancient Egyptian architecture as early as 2600 BC, the architect Imhotep made use of stone columns whose surface was carved to reflect the organic form of bundled reeds, like papyrus, lotus and palm. In later Egyptian architecture faceted cylinders were also common. Their form is thought to derive from archaic reed-built shrines. Carved from stone, the columns were highly decorated with carved and painted hieroglyphs, texts, ritual imagery and natural motifs. Egyptian columns are famously present in the Great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak (circa 1224 BC), where 134 columns are lined up in sixteen rows, with some columns reaching heights of 24 metres.


title: Column

text: One of the most important type are the papyriform columns. The origin of these columns goes back to the 5th Dynasty. They are composed of lotus (papyrus) stems which are drawn together into a bundle decorated with bands: the capital, instead of opening out into the shape of a bellflower, swells out and then narrows again like a flower in bud. The base, which tapers to take the shape of a half-sphere like the stem of the lotus, has a continuously recurring decoration of stipules.


title: Column

text: The Minoans used whole tree-trunks, usually turned upside down in order to prevent re-growth, stood on a base set in the stylobate (floor base) and topped by a simple round capital. These were then painted as in the most famous Minoan palace of Knossos. The Minoans employed columns to create large open-plan spaces, light-wells and as a focal point for religious rituals.


title: Column

text: These traditions were continued by the later Mycenaean civilization, particularly in the megaron or hall at the heart of their palaces. The importance of columns and their reference to palaces and therefore authority is evidenced in their use in heraldic motifs such as the famous lion-gate of Mycenae where two lions stand each side of a column. Being made of wood these early columns have not survived, but their stone bases have and through these we may see their use and arrangement in these palace buildings.


title: Column

text: The Egyptians, Persians and other civilizations mostly used columns for the practical purpose of holding up the roof inside a building, preferring outside walls to be decorated with reliefs or painting, but the Ancient Greeks, followed by the Romans, loved to use them on the outside as well, and the extensive use of columns on the interior and exterior of buildings is one of the most characteristic features of classical architecture, in buildings like the Parthenon. The Greeks developed the classical orders of architecture, which are most easily distinguished by the form of the column and its various elements. Their Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders were expanded by the Romans to include the Tuscan and Composite orders.


title: Column

text: Some of the most elaborate columns in the ancient world were those of the Persians, especially the massive stone columns erected in Persepolis. They included double-bull structures in their capitals. The Hall of Hundred Columns at Persepolis, measuring 70 × 70 metres, was built by the Achaemenid king Darius I (524–486 BC). Many of the ancient Persian columns are standing, some being more than 30 metres tall. Tall columns with bull's head capitals were used for porticoes and to support the roofs of the hypostylehall, partly inspired by the ancient Egyptian precedent. Since the columns carried timber beams rather than stone, they could be taller, slimmer and more widely spaced than Egyptian ones.


title: Column

text: Columns, or at least large structural exterior ones, became much less significant in the architecture of the Middle Ages. The classical forms were abandoned in both Byzantine and Romanesque architecture in favour of more flexible forms, with capitals often using various types of foliage decoration, and in the West scenes with figures carved in relief.


title: Column

text: During the Romanesque period, builders continued to reuse and imitate ancient Roman columns wherever possible; where new, the emphasis was on elegance and beauty, as illustrated by twisted columns. Often they were decorated with mosaics.


title: Column

text: Renaissance architecture was keen to revive the classical vocabulary and styles, and the informed use and variation of the classical orders remained fundamental to the training of architects throughout Baroque, Rococo and Neo-classical architecture.


title: Column

text: Early columns were constructed of stone, some out of a single piece of stone. Monolithic columns are among the heaviest stones used in architecture. Other stone columns are created out of multiple sections of stone, mortared or dry-fit together. In many classical sites, sectioned columns were carved with a centre hole or depression so that they could be pegged together, using stone or metal pins. The design of most classical columns incorporates entasis (the inclusion of a slight outward curve in the sides) plus a reduction in diameter along the height of the column, so that the top is as little as 83% of the bottom diameter. This reduction mimics the parallax effects which the eye expects to see, and tends to make columns look taller and straighter than they are while entasis adds to that effect.


title: Column

text: There are flutes and fillets that run up the shaft of columns. The flute is the part of the column that is indented in with a semi circular shape. The fillet of the column is the part between each of the flutes on the Ionic order columns. The flute width changes on all tapered columns as it goes up the shaft and stays the same on all non tapered columns. This was done to the columns to add visual interest to them. The Ionic and the Corinthian are the only orders that have fillets and flutes. The Doric style has flutes but not fillets. Doric flutes are connected at a sharp point where the fillets are located on Ionic and Corinthian order columns.


title: Column

text: Most classical columns arise from a basis, or base, that rests on the stylobate, or foundation, except for those of the Doric order, which usually rest directly on the stylobate. The basis may consist of several elements, beginning with a wide, square slab known as a plinth. The simplest bases consist of the plinth alone, sometimes separated from the column by a convex circular cushion known as a torus. More elaborate bases include two toruses, separated by a concave section or channel known as a scotia or trochilus. Scotiae could also occur in pairs, separated by a convex section called an astragal, or bead, narrower than a torus. Sometimes these sections were accompanied by still narrower convex sections, known as annulets or fillets.


title: Column

text: At the top of the shaft is a capital, upon which the roof or other architectural elements rest. In the case of Doric columns, the capital usually consists of a round, tapering cushion, or echinus, supporting a square slab, known as an abax or abacus. Ionic capitals feature a pair of volutes, or scrolls, while Corinthian capitals are decorated with reliefs in the form of acanthus leaves. Either type of capital could be accompanied by the same moldings as the base. In the case of free-standing columns, the decorative elements atop the shaft are known as a finial.


title: Column

text: Modern columns may be constructed out of steel, poured or precast concrete, or brick, left bare or clad in an architectural covering, or veneer. Used to support an arch, an impost, or pier, is the topmost member of a column. The bottom-most part of the arch, called the springing, rests on the impost.


title: Column

text: As the axial load on a perfectly straight slender column with elastic material properties is increased in magnitude, this ideal column passes through three states: stable equilibrium, neutral equilibrium, and instability. The straight column under load is in stable equilibrium if a lateral force, applied between the two ends of the column, produces a small lateral deflection which disappears and the column returns to its straight form when the lateral force is removed. If the column load is gradually increased, a condition is reached in which the straight form of equilibrium becomes so-called neutral equilibrium, and a small lateral force will produce a deflection that does not disappear and the column remains in this slightly bent form when the lateral force is removed. The load at which neutral equilibrium of a column is reached is called the critical or buckling load. The state of instability is reached when a slight increase of the column load causes uncontrollably growing lateral deflections leading to complete collapse.


title: Column

text: For an axially loaded straight column with any end support conditions, the equation of static equilibrium, in the form of a differential equation, can be solved for the deflected shape and critical load of the column. With hinged, fixed or free end support conditions the deflected shape in neutral equilibrium of an initially straight column with uniform cross section throughout its length always follows a partial or composite sinusoidal curve shape, and the critical load is given by


title: Column

text: where "r" = radius of gyration of column cross-section which is equal to the square root of (I/A), "K" = ratio of the longest half sine wave to the actual column length, "E" = tangent modulus at the stress "F", and "KL" = effective length (length of an equivalent hinged-hinged column). From Equation (2) it can be noted that the buckling strength of a column is inversely proportional to the square of its length.


title: Column

text: When the critical stress, "F" ("F" ="P"/"A", where "A" = cross-sectional area of the column), is greater than the proportional limit of the material, the column is experiencing inelastic buckling. Since at this stress the slope of the material's stress-strain curve, "E" (called the tangent modulus), is smaller than that below the proportional limit, the critical load at inelastic buckling is reduced. More complex formulas and procedures apply for such cases, but in its simplest form the critical buckling load formula is given as Equation (3),


title: Column

text: A column with a cross section that lacks symmetry may suffer torsional buckling (sudden twisting) before, or in combination with, lateral buckling. The presence of the twisting deformations renders both theoretical analyses and practical designs rather complex.


title: Column

text: Eccentricity of the load, or imperfections such as initial crookedness, decreases column strength. If the axial load on the column is not concentric, that is, its line of action is not precisely coincident with the centroidal axis of the column, the column is characterized as eccentrically loaded. The eccentricity of the load, or an initial curvature, subjects the column to immediate bending. The increased stresses due to the combined axial-plus-flexural stresses result in a reduced load-carrying ability.


title: Column

text: Column elements are considered to be massive if their smallest side dimension is equal to or more than 400 mm. Massive columns have the ability to increase in carrying strength over long time periods (even during periods of heavy load). Taking into account the fact, that possible structural loads may increase over time as well (and also the threat of progressive failure), massive columns have an advantage compared to non-massive ones.


title: Column

text: When a column is too long to be built or transported in one piece, it has to be extended or spliced at the construction site. A reinforced concrete column is extended by having the steel reinforcing bars protrude a few inches or feet above the top of the concrete, then placing the next level of reinforcing bars to overlap, and pouring the concrete of the next level. A steel column is extended by welding or bolting splice plates on the flanges and webs or walls of the columns to provide a few inches or feet of load transfer from the upper to the lower column section. A timber column is usually extended by the use of a steel tube or wrapped-around sheet-metal plate bolted onto the two connecting timber sections.


title: Column

text: A column that carries the load down to a foundation must have means to transfer the load without overstressing the foundation material. Reinforced concrete and masonry columns are generally built directly on top of concrete foundations. When seated on a concrete foundation, a steel column must have a base plate to spread the load over a larger area, and thereby reduce the bearing pressure. The base plate is a thick, rectangular steel plate usually welded to the bottom end of the column.


title: Column

text: The Roman author Vitruvius, relying on the writings (now lost) of Greek authors, tells us that the ancient Greeks believed that their Doric order developed from techniques for building in wood. The earlier smoothed tree-trunk was replaced by a stone cylinder.


title: Column

text: The Doric order is the oldest and simplest of the classical orders. It is composed of a vertical cylinder that is wider at the bottom. It generally has neither a base nor a detailed capital. It is instead often topped with an inverted frustum of a shallow cone or a cylindrical band of carvings. It is often referred to as the masculine order because it is represented in the bottom level of the Colosseum and the Parthenon, and was therefore considered to be able to hold more weight. The height-to-thickness ratio is about 8:1. The shaft of a Doric Column is almost always fluted.


title: Column

text: The Greek Doric, developed in the western Dorian region of Greece, is the heaviest and most massive of the orders. It rises from the stylobate without any base; it is from four to six times as tall as its diameter; it has twenty broad flutes; the capital consists simply of a banded necking swelling out into a smooth echinus, which carries a flat square abacus; the Doric entablature is also the heaviest, being about one-fourth the height column. The Greek Doric order was not used after c. 100 B.C. until its “rediscovery” in the mid-eighteenth century.


title: Column

text: The Tuscan order, also known as Roman Doric, is also a simple design, the base and capital both being series of cylindrical disks of alternating diameter. The shaft is almost never fluted. The proportions vary, but are generally similar to Doric columns. Height to width ratio is about 7:1.


title: Column

text: The Ionic column is considerably more complex than the Doric or Tuscan. It usually has a base and the shaft is often fluted (it has grooves carved up its length). The capital features a volute, an ornament shaped like a scroll, at the four corners. The height-to-thickness ratio is around 9:1. Due to the more refined proportions and scroll capitals, the Ionic column is sometimes associated with academic buildings. Ionic style columns were used on the second level of the Colosseum.


title: Column

text: The Corinthian order is named for the Greek city-state of Corinth, to which it was connected in the period. However, according to the architectural historian Vitruvius, the column was created by the sculptor Callimachus, probably an Athenian, who drew acanthus leaves growing around a votive basket. In fact, the oldest known Corinthian capital was found in Bassae, dated at 427 BC. It is sometimes called the feminine order because it is on the top level of the Colosseum and holding up the least weight, and also has the slenderest ratio of thickness to height. Height to width ratio is about 10:1.


title: Column

text: The Composite order draws its name from the capital being a composite of the Ionic and Corinthian capitals. The acanthus of the Corinthian column already has a scroll-like element, so the distinction is sometimes subtle. Generally the Composite is similar to the Corinthian in proportion and employment, often in the upper tiers of colonnades. Height to width ratio is about 11:1 or 12:1.


title: Column

text: A Solomonic column, sometimes called "barley sugar", begins on a base and ends in a capital, which may be of any order, but the shaft twists in a tight spiral, producing a dramatic, serpentine effect of movement. Solomonic columns were developed in the ancient world, but remained rare there. A famous marble set, probably 2nd century, was brought to Old St. Peter's Basilica by Constantine I, and placed round the saint's shrine, and was thus familiar throughout the Middle Ages, by which time they were thought to have been removed from the Temple of Jerusalem. The style was used in bronze by Bernini for his spectacular St. Peter's baldachin, actually a ciborium (which displaced Constantine's columns), and thereafter became very popular with Baroque and Rococo church architects, above all in Latin America, where they were very often used, especially on a small scale, as they are easy to produce in wood by turning on a lathe (hence also the style's popularity for spindles on furniture and stairs).


title: Column

text: A Caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese.


title: Column

text: In architecture, an engaged column is a column embedded in a wall and partly projecting from the surface of the wall, sometimes defined as semi or three-quarter detached. Engaged columns are rarely found in classical Greek architecture, and then only in exceptional cases, but in Roman architecture they exist in abundance, most commonly embedded in the cella walls of pseudoperipteral buildings.


title: Column

text: Pillar tombs are monumental graves, which typically feature a single, prominent pillar or column, often made of stone. A number of world cultures incorporated pillars into tomb structures. In the ancient Greek colony of Lycia in Anatolia, one of these edifices is located at the tomb of Xanthos. In the town of Hannassa in southern Somalia, ruins of houses with archways and courtyards have also been found along with other pillar tombs, including a rare octagonal tomb.


title: Column

text: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Engaged Column". Encyclopædia Britannica. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 404–405.


title: Column

text: Stierlin, Henri The Roman Empire: From the Etruscans to the Decline of the Roman Empire, TASCHEN, 2002


title: Column

text: Alderman, Liz (7 July 2014). "Acropolis Maidens Glow Anew". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 July 2014.


title: Column

text: Stokstad, Marilyn; Cothren, Michael (2014). Art History (Volume 1 ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. p. 110.


title: Heartland rock

text: Heartland rock is a genre of rock music characterized by a straightforward, often roots musical style, often with a focus on blue-collar workers, and a conviction that rock music has a social or communal purpose beyond just entertainment.


title: Heartland rock

text: The genre is exemplified by singer-songwriters Tom Petty, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp and country music artists, including Steve Earle and Joe Ely. The genre developed in the 1970s and reached its commercial peak in the 1980s, when it became one of the best-selling genres in the United States. In the 1990s, many established acts faded and the genre began to fragment, but the major figures have continued to record with commercial success.


title: Heartland rock

text: The term "heartland rock" was not coined to describe a clear genre until the 1980s. In terms of style, it often uses straightforward rock and roll, sometimes with elements of Americana with a basic rhythm and blues line-up of drums, keyboards and occasional horn section instruments like a saxophone. However, this common definition may represent an oversimplification given that Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." made heavy use of synthesizers, most notably on the hit singles "Dancing in the Dark", "Glory Days" and the title track. Lyrics are often presented in a style that is raspy and unpolished, adding a sense of authenticity. The genre was most strongly influenced by American country, folk, 1960s garage rock, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and folk rock acts such as Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Byrds.


title: Heartland rock

text: Verses in heartland rock songs often tell stories. In some songs, those stories are about people undergoing hard times; choruses are often anthemic in tone. The genre is associated with working-class regions of the Midwest and the Rust Belt. It has been characterized as a predominantly romantic genre, celebrating "urban backstreets and rooftops", and its major themes include alienation, despair, "unemployment, small-town decline, disillusionment, limited opportunity and bitter nostalgia".


title: Heartland rock

text: Many major heartland rock artists began their careers in the 1960s, as with Bob Seger, or the 1970s, as with Springsteen and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; the former after two critically highly regarded but modestly selling albums with the E Street Band, he achieved his breakthrough in 1975 with "Born to Run", which presented stories of loss, betrayal, defeat and escape in the context of his native New Jersey shoreline, with songs influenced by 50s rock and roll, Dylan and Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. While Springsteen struggled for three years with legal disputes, other artists in a similar vein came to the fore. These artists included Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and fellow Jersey Shore residents Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.


title: Heartland rock

text: In 1978, Springsteen returned with "Darkness on the Edge of Town", which reached the top ten in the US and then the number one album "The River" (1980), which continued the themes of economic and personal dissolution, produced a series of hit singles, and has been seen as "getting the heartland rock bandwagon rolling", together with the stripped-down sound and darker themes of his next album "Nebraska" (1982).


title: Heartland rock

text: The genre reached its commercial peak with Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." in 1984. The 1980s saw the continued success of artists such as John Fogerty and the Steve Miller Band, as well as the arrival of new artists like John Mellencamp, Michael Stanley, George Thorogood, John Cafferty, Drive-By Truckers, Kentucky Headhunters, Bruce Hornsby & the Range, Iron City Houserockers, Leon Russell, John Hiatt, Lucinda Williams, and BoDeans. A number of roots music and country music artists like Steve Earle, The Tractors, The Hot Club of Cowtown, and Joe Ely also became associated with the genre.


title: Heartland rock

text: The first significant female artist in the genre was Melissa Etheridge, whose self-titled debut album issued in 1988 drew critical comparisons with Springsteen and Mellencamp.


title: Heartland rock

text: In the 1990s, many artists who would have been heartland rockers in the 1980s chose to pursue the recently emerged genre of Americana, and heartland rock dwindled to a few stalwart artists.


title: Heartland rock

text: Heartland rock can be heard as an influence on artists as diverse as Billy Joel and Kid Rock, who recorded a duet with Seger for the latter's "Face the Promise" album. Kid Rock's 2008 hit "All Summer Long" was inspired by Seger's classic "Night Moves" as well as "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd and "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon. Music critic Anthony DeCurtis wrote that on "Rock n Roll Jesus", Rock "extends the Seger-Mellencamp tradition of heartland rock". American indie rock bands the Killers, the Menzingers, and the War on Drugs have been associated with the genre.


title: Heartland rock

text: British band Dire Straits and English singer-songwriter Sam Fender are known to have established their "British version" of the heartland rock genre.


title: Waldorf salad

text: A Waldorf salad is a fruit and nut salad generally made of fresh apples, celery, walnuts, and grapes, dressed in mayonnaise, and traditionally served on a bed of lettuce as an appetizer or a light meal. The apples, celery, and grapes can all be green, which harmonizes the color palette of the dish.


title: Waldorf salad

text: Waldorf salad is named for the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City, where it was first created for a charity ball given in honor of the St. Mary's Hospital for Children on March 14, 1896. The Waldorf-Astoria's maître d'hôtel, Oscar Tschirky, developed or inspired many of the hotel's signature dishes and is widely credited with creating the salad recipe. In 1896, the salad appeared in "The Cook Book" by "Oscar of the Waldorf".


title: Waldorf salad

text: The original recipe was just apples, celery, and mayonnaise. It did not contain nuts, but they had been added by the time the recipe appeared in "The Rector Cook Book" in 1928.


title: Waldorf salad

text: Other ingredients such as chicken, turkey, and dried fruit (e.g. dates or raisins) are sometimes added. Updated versions of the salad sometimes change the dressing to a seasoned mayonnaise or a yogurt dressing. Modern Waldorf salad may also include the zest of oranges and/or lemons. Variations include a peanut butter and yogurt base, and one that replaces celery with cauliflower.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The is a subcompact car manufactured by Toyota from 1978 until 1999 across five generations, in five body configurations sized between the Corolla and the Starlet. Manufactured at the Takaoka plant in Toyota City, Japan, and sharing its platform with the Cynos (aka Paseo) and the Starlet, the Tercel was marketed variously as the — sold at Toyota Japanese dealerships called "Toyota Corolla Stores" — and was replaced by the Platz in 1999. It was also known as the and sold at Toyopet Store locations. Starting with the second generation, the Tercel dealership network was changed to "Vista Store", as its badge engineered sibling, the Corolla II, was exclusive to "Corolla Store" locations.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The Tercel was the first front-wheel drive vehicle produced by Toyota, although it was the only front-wheel drive Toyota to have a longitudinally mounted engine. For example, the E80 series Corolla's frame (except AE85 and AE86) is similar to the L20 series Tercel's frame. Also, Toyota designed the then new A series engine for the Tercel, attempting simultaneously to achieve good fuel economy and performance and low emissions. Choice of body styles increased as well, with the addition of a four-door sedan.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The name "Tercel" derives from the Latin word for "one third", with ""tiercel" referring to a male falcon which is one-third smaller than its female counterpart. Similarly, the Tercel was slightly smaller than the Corolla. The early Tercels sported a logo on the trunk with a stylized falcon as the "T" in Tercel. All Tercels were assembled at the Takaoka factory in Toyota City, Aichi or by Hino Motors in Hamura, Tokyo. Hino assembled the third generation Tercel from 1986 to 1990 for the two-door and some three-door models. When Japanese production of the Tercel/Corsa/Corolla II (and the related Cynos/Paseo coupés) came to an end in 1999, 4,968,935 examples had been built in total.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The Tercel was introduced in Japan in August 1978, Europe in March 1979 (Geneva Motor Show) and the United States in 1980. It was originally sold as either a two- or four-door sedan, or as a three-door hatchback. The hatchback's rear design was the result of using taillights similar in design to those used on the bigger Mark II: the Tercel was originally intended to be sold through "Toyopet Stores", alongside the Mark II. The Tercel ended up being marketed through the "Corolla Store" and the "Diesel Store" locations in Japan, while a version badged "Toyota Corsa" was marketed in parallel through the separate "Toyopet" distribution network. In the United States it was named the "Corolla Tercel". Models sold in the US were powered by a 1,452 cc SOHC four-cylinder 1A-C engine producing at 4,800 rpm. Transmission choices were either a four- or five-speed manual, or a three-speed automatic available with the 1.5-litre engine from August 1979 on.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In the Japanese market, the 1,500 cc engine developed at 5,600 rpm, while the 1.3-litre "2A" engine, added in June 1979, offered a claimed . In Europe, mainly, the 1.3-litre version was available, with .


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In this new front-wheel-drive design, the first for Toyota, the engine is mounted longitudinally. The transmission is mounted under the floorpan, as is the case in a rear-wheel-drive car. Unlike a rear-wheel-drive car, the transmission has a ring and pinion gear on the front part of the transmission, underneath the engine. The engine, transmission and differential are located a little off of the centre line of the car. Halfshafts then extend from the transmission to the front wheels. This made for a taller package than usual, making the beltline higher as well, but Toyota felt that traditionalists might be scared off by a transverse setup. As early as 1980, Toyota also hinted that this setup made the conversion to a four-wheel-drive setup easier, although such a version had to wait for the second generation. The Tercel also had rack and pinion steering, the first time such a design was used by Toyota since the 2000GT.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In August 1980, the Tercel (and Corsa) underwent a facelift, with considerable changes to the front and minor ones to the interior and rear. The 1A engine was replaced by the 3A of identical displacement but now with . This engine eschewed the TGP lean burn design used on the 1A, instead depending on a catalytic converter to meet the ever more stringent emissions standards of the time.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: Toyota redesigned the Tercel in May 1982, now called the "Tercel" in all markets. Its internal model code is the "L20" series. It was available in three- or five-door hatchback models or a four-door station wagon, and also as a four-door sedan in Japan. The station wagon, known in Japan as the "Sprinter Carib" (, short for "caribou"), was introduced in August 1982. The wagon was also available with four-wheel drive (front-wheel-drive wagons were only available in select markets). In Japan, a four-wheel-drive sedan was also available; it, too remained in production alongside the wagon version even after the introduction of the third generation Tercel. Standard front-wheel drive vehicles (and four-wheel drive wagons not equipped with the six-speed manual transmission) came with either a three-speed automatic or a four- or five-speed manual transmission. The four-speed manual was reserved for the very simplest version in North American markets.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In Japan, body styles on offer were different for the different models as they had to suit the lineups of the various dealer networks. the Corolla II was originally only available as a three- or five-door hatchback, while the Tercel and the Corsa were both offered exclusively with the five-door or the four-door sedan body styles. The second generation Tercel was moved from the "Corolla" to the "Vista" sales network, while the Corsa remained available through "Toyopet" stores, and the Corolla II in the "Corolla" dealer network. The Toyota Diesel sales network, which had handled some Tercel sales earlier, was shut down in the 1980s.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: As only the first two generations were sold officially in Europe, this was the last generation of the Tercel series available there, with either the hatchback or station wagon bodywork. In Japan, power outputs were as follows:


title: Toyota Tercel

text: North American Tercels were all fitted with the 1.5-litre engine, producing at 4,800 rpm. In Europe, both the 1.3 and the 1.5 litres were available. As with the earlier generation, engine and transmission were still mounted longitudinally, and the arrangements were the same. In some markets, engines received minor improvements, such as reformulated combustion chambers (to improve emissions and fuel economy), higher compression ratios, and new auxiliary devices for the carburettor assemblies.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The four-wheel-drive models (chassis code "AL25", only with the 1.5 litre engine) could be equipped with six-speed manual transmissions, and could be shifted from two- to four-wheel drive without coming to a stop. The sixth gear it carries is an "extra low" (EL) first gear, a standard transmission gear with a very low (4.71:1) gear-ratio. The EL gear generates a 17.6:1 final drive ratio, giving the driver the torque needed to extract the vehicle from conditions which otherwise may have trapped it. It is only available when in four-wheel drive, and because of its low gear-ratio it is suitable only for very low-speed use. Also included with better equipped four-wheel-drive models was an inclinometer above the radio and air conditioner that measures the tilt of the car.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The new Tercel 4WD was built from existing pieces in the Toyota inventory. The engine, transaxle and front-wheel-drive system were from the existing Tercel; the longitudinally mounted engine made such a conversion a simple affair. The coil-sprung, live rear axle and the drive shaft was taken from the rear-wheel drive Corolla. The only major part specifically designed for the new Tercel 4WD was the transfer case, built into the transmission. The transfer case provides the driver with three different power arrangements: Normally, the car is operated with front-wheel drive. When the driver pulls the 4WD selector lever back into four-wheel drive, or presses a button on the gear selector for the automatic transmission, front and rear differentials are driven at the same RPM via a direct mechanical coupling. There is no conventional center differential, so the four-wheel-drive system can be used only on loose or slippery road surfaces (such as snow, gravel, or sand); otherwise the drivetrain experiences severe wear, and handling is compromised. The third power option (which was only available on the six-speed manual) is low range. This is not the same as the low-range power option found in a truck or conventional SUV, as the Tercel lacks a high-range-low-range transfer case. When the lever is placed in four-wheel-drive mode it becomes possible to down shift the vehicle from first to EL.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In 1985, there were minor changes to gear ratios and to the grille design, and the interior was updated in 1986. The Tercel wagon (and four-door sedan in Japan) continued with the same design until February 1988 (when the Sprinter Carib was replaced by a larger, Corolla-based design), while the sedans and hatchbacks moved on to the newer design.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In 1986, Toyota introduced the slightly larger third generation Tercel with a new 12-valve engine which featured a variable venturi carburetor, and later models with EFI. From this generation on, the engine is mounted transversely, with the transmission mounted on the right side of the engine in a layout developed by Dante Giacosa and earlier popularised in such vehicles as the Fiat 128 and Volkswagen Golf. Other changes included revised rack-and-pinion steering and a newly designed, fully independent suspension. The Tercel continued in North America as Toyota's least expensive vehicle, while it was no longer offered in Europe. In other markets, the smaller Starlet was also offered.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In Japan, the top trim package Tercel Retra GP-Turbo came installed with Toyota's four wheel independent suspension, labeled "Pegasus", along with their "Lasre" branded multi-port fuel injection, using the 3E-TEU engine. "Retra" was short for retractable, a reference to the car's unique hidden headlamps.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In 1986, Toyota also introduced a turbodiesel version with Toyota's 1.5-litre 1N-T engine coupled with a manual five-speed transmission. This was exclusively sold in the Japanese domestic market.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The wagon version continued to be of the previous generation, as did the four-door sedan (which was not exported to most countries), until it was moved to the Corolla's underpinnings in 1988. The variable venturi carburettor reportedly has some problems, especially in the earlier models, such as a too rich mixture, which is caused by the too thin Teflon coating of the fuel-metering needle, which erodes over time due to friction. It also has had problems with the compensator (choke device), which can also cause overly rich mixture when not working properly.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The third generation Tercel arrived in North America in late 1986, for the 1987 model year. As with Tercels globally, it received the new 12-valve E-series engine family. In North America, only the 1.5-litre engine was available, producing in federalized trim. In 1987 (for the 1988 model year), Toyota introduced the Tercel EZ to North America. Fitted with less standard equipment than the standard Tercel it has vinyl upholstery, a four-speed manual transmission, rubber mats instead of carpeting, and a deleted passenger's side sun visor. This was also when the two-door sedan model was introduced, sometimes referred to as a "coupe" in the United States. The two-door sedan was exclusively sold in North America, as most economy car buyers elsewhere expected either a hatchback or four doors on their sedans.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: For the 1990 model year, the Tercel Wagon was discontinued, having been upgraded to the larger platform used for the Corolla/Sprinter Carib. Non-motorized two-point passive seatbelts for the front seats were introduced in 1990.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: Toyota introduced the fourth generation Tercel in September 1990, as either a three-door hatchback or as a sedan with either two or four doors. In the North American markets it was powered by either a 1.5 L 3E-E 4-cylinder engine producing at 5,200 rpm (and of torque at 4,400 rpm) or a 1.5-litre 5E-FE 16-valve DOHC 4-cylinder engine producing . The hatchback was not offered in North America, while the two-door sedan was not sold in any market outside of the US and Canada.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In Japan, the Tercel was also offered in 4WD versions. Hatchback models were VC, Joinus and Avenue. Trim levels for the sedan were VE, VX and VZ. The VZ is powered by a 5E-FHE engine. The higher level Japanese sedans have different tail lights and a better-equipped interior than the export models.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: North American models were the base (2-door), DX (2-/4-door) and LE (4-door). Colour-keyed bumpers, full wheel covers and folded rear seat were optional on the DX, standard on the LE. The LE has red trunk garnish similar to the Japanese model.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In Chile, the Tercel was introduced in 1991 as a four-door sedan with a 1.3-litre, SOHC 12-valve , four-cylinder, carburetor engine, under the name "Corolla Tercel". The "DX" basic version came with tachometer and four spoke steering wheel. It gained moderate success due to the Corolla name.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: Designed between 1991 and 1992, by Shinichi Hiranaka and Yasuhisa Hamano, in September 1994, for the 1995 model year, Toyota introduced an all-new Tercel. The new design offered a stiffer body with better handling and was one of only a handful of cars in the US to have OBDII in 1995. Retaining its compact packaging and high quality, the new Tercel featured a redesigned exterior and new engine. The Tercel now offered standard driver's and passenger's side airbags in the United States, but only a driver's side bag for Canada. Three-point seatbelts for front and outboard rear passengers and adjustable shoulder-belt anchor points for front seat passengers were installed on four-door models. All models met federal standards for 1997 side-impact protection, and offered anti-lock brakes. Standard models came with only a four-speed manual or automatic transmission and grey bumpers, while DX models were offered with the addition of body-coloured bumpers and either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: Its all-new appearance appears to be influenced by the Japanese-market Toyota Camry V40 series, also introduced that year. Both vehicles were available together at "Toyota Corolla Store" Japanese dealerships. Design patents were filed at the Japan Patent Office on 12 October 1992, under patent number 1009387.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In Japan, the Tercel was again also offered with the Corsa and Corolla II nameplates, for sale through parallel marketing channels. There was also a three-door hatchback body version offered in addition to the four-door sedan. The two-door sedan was only ever marketed in North America. There was also a four-wheel-drive option available in Japan.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The interior design pushed the dash further away, but brought the switches closer. This same dashboard (left sided version) was shared with the Toyota Starlet and Toyota Paseo of the time. The all-new DOHC 1.5 L inline-four engine provides and of torque, offering a 13 percent power increase over the previous generation as well as a 15 percent increase in fuel economy. The new 5E-FE engine gets on the highway with a five-speed manual transmission, making it the most fuel-efficient four-cylinder car of its time in the United States. As Toyota's entry-level car, the Tercel was also available with the smaller, 1.3-litre, 4E-FE and 2E petrol four-cylinder, and the Toyota 1N-T engine; a 1,453 cc inline-four turbocharged diesel engine which provided 66 hp (49.2 kW) at 4,200 rpm and 101 lb·ft (137 N·m) of torque at 2,600 rpm.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: For 1997, all North American market Tercels were available only in the CE trim level and incorporated many of the standard and optional items from previous base and DX models. All Tercels came standard with a new 13-inch wheel and tire combination.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: Inside, the Tercel's dashboard was revised with rotary ventilation controls. All Toyota models had revised seat fabric and door panels. The RedHawk and WhiteHawk editions were introduced in addition to the BlackHawk trim already offered, which came standard with air conditioning, 185/60R14 tires on custom wheels, a rear spoiler with integrated brake light, and hawk symbols to identify the special model.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: For 1998, the Tercel's styling was updated, highlighted by multi-reflector headlights, a revised grille and front fascia design and clear lens turn signal lights for the front and rear. The facelift occurred in December 1997 for the Japanese market, and covered all three lines (Tercel, Corsa, Corolla II).


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The Tercel's rear styling was also enhanced with redesigned composite tail lights and updated bumper molding. The new molding extended across the entire length of the rear bumper.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: Production of the Tercel for the American market ended in 1998 as the model was superseded by the Echo. Production for Japan, Canada and some other countries continued through 1999. Taiwanese production continued until 2003.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The fifth generation of Tercel was introduced in September 1995, presented in the FISA auto Show of that year as the "all-new Tercel twin cam", available in three different levels: basic XLI, the medium GLI, and the full equipment LEI. All Tercels featured a 5E-FE 1.5 16v twin cam (DOHC) engine, rated at at 6,400 rpm and of torque at 3,200 rpm.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: In Thailand and Indonesia, a version of the Tercel with different front and rear fascias was sold as the Toyota Soluna. The name "Soluna" is taken from Spanish words "sol", meaning "sun" and "luna", meaning "moon". The Soluna AL50 was powered by the 1.5-litre 5A-FE engine, and campaigned as the "Asian family car". Trim levels are XLi, SLi (Thailand only), and GLi.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: Only the XLi and GLi were sold in Thailand (from January 1997) and Indonesia (from April 2000) where the XLi was common for taxis. Based on the GLi, the Soluna S-Limited with body kits was offered for a short time. A facelifted Soluna appeared in Thailand in late 1999 and arrived in Indonesia in May 2001.


title: Toyota Tercel

text: The Tercel remained smaller than the Corolla throughout its production, though by the end of its production the Tercel had become almost the same size as the North American-market 1975–1978 Corollas that were current at the time the first generation Tercel was introduced.


title: Kivu conflict

text: The Kivu conflict began in 2004 in the eastern Congo as an armed conflict between the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the Hutu Power group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has broadly consisted of three phases, the third of which is an ongoing conflict. Prior to March 2009, the main combatant group against the FARDC was the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). Following the cessation of hostilities between these two forces, rebel Tutsi forces, formerly under the command of Laurent Nkunda, became the dominant opposition to the government forces.


title: Kivu conflict

text: The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) has played a large role in the conflict. With a 21,000-strong force, the Kivu conflict constitutes the largest peacekeeping mission currently in operation. In total, 93 peacekeepers have died in the region, with 15 dying in a large-scale attack by an Islamist militia, the Allied Democratic Forces, in North Kivu in December 2017. The peacekeeping force seeks to prevent escalation of force in the conflict, and minimise human rights abuses like sexual assault and the use of child soldiers.


title: Kivu conflict

text: CNDP is sympathetic to the Banyamulenge in Eastern Congo, an ethnic Tutsi group, and to the Tutsi-dominated government of neighboring Rwanda. It was opposed by the FDLR, by the DRC army, and by United Nations forces.


title: Kivu conflict

text: Laurent Nkunda was an officer in the rebel Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD), Goma faction in the Second Congo War (1998–2002). The rebel group, backed by Rwanda, was seeking to overthrow then Congolese president Laurent-Désiré Kabila. In 2003, when that war officially ended, Nkunda joined the new integrated national army of the transitional government of Congo as a colonel and was promoted to general in 2004. He soon rejected the authority of the government and retreated with some of RCD-Goma troops to the Masisi forests in Nord Kivu.


title: Kivu conflict

text: Global Witness says that Western companies sourcing minerals were buying them from traders who finance both rebel and government troops. Minerals such as cassiterite, gold, or coltan, which is used for electronic equipment and cell phones, are an important export for the Congo. A UN resolution stated that anyone supporting illegal Congolese armed groups through illicit trade of natural resources should be subjected to sanctions including travel restrictions and an assets freeze. The extent of the problem is not known.


title: Kivu conflict

text: The FDLR counts among its number the original members of the Interahamwe that led the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It received extensive backing from, and cooperation from, the government of Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who used the FDLR as a proxy force against the foreign Rwandan armies operating in the country, in particular the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPF military wing) and Rwanda-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy. In July 2002, FDLR units still in Kinshasa-held territory moved into North and South Kivu. At this time it was thought to have between 15,000 and 20,000 members. Even after the official end of the Second Congo War in 2002, FDLR units continued to attack Tutsi forces both in eastern DRC and across the border into Rwanda, vastly increasing tensions in the region and raising the possibility of another Rwandan offensive into the DRC – what would be their third since 1996. In mid-2004, a number of attacks forced 25,000 Congolese to flee their homes.


title: Kivu conflict

text: In early 2004, the peace procedure was already starting to unravel in North Kivu. Under the terms of the deal, all belligerents were to join a transitional government and merge their forces into one national army. However, it quickly became clear that not all parties were fully committed to peace. An early sign of this was the defection of three senior Rally for "Congolese" Democracy (RCD) officers – among them Laurent Nkunda – to form a political movement that morphed into the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) rebellion in July 2006. The region was once again plunged into turmoil, with fighting reaching the intensity of the Second Congo War. Whilst Mai Mai (self-defence militias) were responsible for some of this violence, the struggle between the CNDP and the "Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda" (FDLR) – the largest Rwandan Hutu group – was at its heart.


title: Kivu conflict

text: In 2004, Nkunda's forces began clashing with the DRC army in Sud-Kivu and occupied Bukavu for eight days in June 2004, where he was accused of committing war crimes. Nkunda claimed he was attempting to prevent genocide against the Banyamulenge, who are ethnic Tutsi resident in the eastern DRC. This claim was rejected by the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). Following UN negotiations which secured the withdrawal of Nkunda's troops from Bukavu to the Masisi forests, part of his army split. Led by Colonel Jules Mutebusi, it left for Rwanda. About 150,000 Kinyarwanda-speaking people (of Nkunda's own language group) were reported to have fled from Sud-Kivu to Nord-Kivu in fear of reprisal attacks by DRC army.


title: Kivu conflict

text: In 2005, Nkunda called for the overthrow of the government due to its corruption, and increasing numbers of RCD-Goma soldiers deserted the DRC army to join his forces.


title: Kivu conflict

text: In January 2006, Nkunda's troops clashed with DRC army forces, who had also been accused of war crimes by the MONUC. Further clashes took place during August 2006 around the town of Sake. MONUC, however, refused to arrest Nkunda after an international arrest warrant was issued against him, stating, "Mr Laurent Nkunda does not present a threat to the local population, thus we cannot justify any action against him." As late as June 2006, Nkunda became subject to United Nations Security Council restrictions.


title: Kivu conflict

text: During both the first and second rounds of the contested and violent 2006 general election, Nkunda had said that he would respect the results. On 25 November, however, a day before the Supreme Court ruled that Joseph Kabila had won the presidential election's second round, Nkunda's forces undertook a sizeable offensive in Sake against the DRC army 11th Brigade, also clashing with MONUC peacekeepers. The attack may not have been related to the election but due to the "killing of a Tutsi civilian who was close to one of the commanders in this group."


title: Kivu conflict

text: The UN called on the DRC government to negotiate with Nkunda, and DRC Interior Minister, General Denis Kalume, was sent to eastern DRC to begin negotiations.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 7 December 2006, RCD-Goma troops attacked DRC army positions in Nord Kivu. With military assistance from MONUC, the DRC army was reported to have regained their positions, with about 150 RCD-Goma forces having been killed. Approximately 12,000 Congolese civilians have fled the DRC to Kisoro District, Uganda. Also on that day, a rocket fired from the DRC to the Kisoro District, killing seven people.


title: Kivu conflict

text: In early 2007, the central DRC government attempted to reduce the threat posed by Nkunda by trying to integrate his troops further into the FARDC, the national armed forces, in what was called a 'mixage' process. However, this backfired and it now appears that from about January to August Nkunda controlled five brigades of troops rather than two. On 24 July 2007, the UN peacekeeping head Jean-Marie Guehenno stated, "Mr Nkunda's forces are the single most serious threat to stability in the DR Congo." In early September, Nkunda's forces had a smaller DRC force under siege in Masisi, and MONUC helicopters were ferrying government soldiers to relieve the town. Scores of men were reported killed, and another major conflict was in progress.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 5 September 2007, after the government FARDC forces claimed they had used a Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunship to kill 80 of Nkunda's rebels, Nkunda called on the government to return to a peace process. "It's the government side who have broken the peace process. We are asking the government to get back on the peace process, because it is the real way to resolve the Congolese problem", he said In September, Nkunda's men "raided ten secondary schools and four primary schools where they took the children by force in order to make them join their ranks." According to United Nations officials, girls were taken as sex slaves, boys were used as fighters, in violation of international law. Following the date of the UN report, thousands more Congolese fled their homes for displaced persons camps.


title: Kivu conflict

text: The government set a 15 October 2007 deadline for Nkunda's troops to begin disarming. This deadline passed without action and, on 17 October, President Joseph Kabila ordered the military to prepare to disarm Nkunda's forces forcibly. Government forces advanced on the Nkunda stronghold of Kichanga. Thousands of civilians fleeing the fighting between Nkunda and government-allied Mai-Mai around Bunagana arrived in Rutshuru several days later. There were separate reports of government troops engaging units under Nkunda around Bukima, near Bunagana, as well as some refugees fleeing across the border into Uganda. The number of people displaced by the fighting since the beginning of the year was estimated at over 370,000.


title: Kivu conflict

text: In early November 2007, Nkunda's troops captured the town of Nyanzale, about north of Goma. Three neighbouring villages were also reported captured, and the army outpost abandoned. A government offensive in early December resulted in the capture by the 82nd Brigade of the town of Mushake, overlooking a key road (however, Reuters reports a FARDC integrated brigade, the 14th, took the town). This followed a statement by the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo that it would be willing to offer artillery support to the government offensive. In a regional conference held in Addis Ababa, the United States, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda pledged to support the Congolese government and not support "negative forces", widely seen as code for Nkunda's forces.


title: Kivu conflict

text: Nkunda stated on 14 December 2007 that he was open to peace talks. The government called such talks on 20 December to be held from 27 December 2007 to 5 January 2008. These talks were then postponed to be held from 6 to 14 January 2008.


title: Kivu conflict

text: Nkunda's group did attend the talks, but walked out on 10 January 2008, after an alleged attempted arrest of one of their members. They later returned to the talks. The talks' schedule was extended to last until 21 January 2008, and then to 22 January 2008 as an agreement appeared to be within reach. It was further extended to 23 January 2008 over final disagreements regarding war crimes cases. The peace deal was signed on 23 January 2008 and included provisions for an immediate ceasefire, the phased withdrawal of all rebel forces in North Kivu province, the resettlement of thousands of villagers, and immunity for Nkunda's forces.


title: Kivu conflict

text: The agreement encouraged FARDC and the United Nations to remove FDLR forces from Kivu. Dissatisfaction with progress and lack of resettlement of refugees caused the CNDP forces to declare war on the FDLR and hostilities to resume, including civilian atrocities. Neither the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda nor the Rwandan government took part in the talks, a fact which may hurt the stability of the agreement.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 26 October 2008, Nkunda's rebels seized a major military camp, along with Virunga National Park for use as a base to launch attacks from. This occurred after the peace treaty failed, with the resultant fighting displacing thousands. The park was taken due to its strategic location on a main road leading to the city of Goma. On 27 October riots began around the United Nations compound in Goma, and civilians pelted the building with rocks and threw Molotov cocktails, claiming that the UN forces had done nothing to prevent the rebel advance. The Congolese national army also retreated under pressure from the rebel army in a "major retreat".


title: Kivu conflict

text: Attack helicopters and armoured vehicles of UN peacekeepers (MONUC) were used in an effort to halt the advance of the rebels, who claim to be within 7 miles (11 kilometres) of Goma. Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for DRC Alan Doss explained the necessity of engaging the rebels, stating that "...[the UN] can't allow population centers to be threatened... [the UN] had to engage." On 28 October, rebels and combined government-MONUC troops battled between the Kibumba refugee camp and Rutshuru. Five rockets were fired at a convoy of UN vehicles protecting a road to the territorial capital of Rutshuru, hitting two armoured personnel carriers. The APCs, which contained Indian Army troops, were relatively undamaged, though a Lieutenant Colonel and two other personnel were injured. Rebel forces later captured the town. Meanwhile, civilians continued to riot, at some points pelting retreating Congolese troops with rocks, though UN spokeswoman Sylvie van den Wildenberg stated that the UN has "reinforced [their] presence" in the region.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 29 October, the rebels declared a unilateral ceasefire as they approached Goma, though they still intended to take the city. That same day a French request for an EU reinforcement of 1,500 troops was refused by several countries and appeared unlikely to materialise; however, the UN forces in place stated they would act to prevent takeovers of population centres. Throughout the day the streets of the city were filled with refugees and fleeing troops, including their tanks and other military vehicles. There were also reports of looting and commandeering of cars by Congolese troops. That night the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a non-binding resolution which condemned the recent rebel advance and demanded it be halted. Despite the ceasefire, World Vision workers had to flee to the Rwandan border to work, and shots were still fired. The United States Department of State sent Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer as an envoy to the region.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 30 October, looting and violence by Congolese soldiers, some of them drunk, continued in Goma, though contingents of other troops and paramilitary police attempted to contain the looting by patrolling the streets in pick-up trucks. Nkunda called for direct talks with the Congolese government, also stating that he would take Goma "if there is no ceasefire, no security and no advance in the peace process." On 31 October, Nkunda declared that he would create a "humanitarian aid corridor", a no-fire zone where displaced persons would be allowed back to their homes, given the consent of the United Nations task force in the Congo. Working with the UN forces around Goma, Nkunda hoped to relocate victims of the recent fighting between his CNDP forces and UN peacekeepers. MONUC spokesman Kevin Kennedy stated that MONUC's forces were stretched thin trying to keep peace within and around the city; recent looting by Congolese soldiers had made it harder to do so as incidents arose both within city limits and outside. According to Anneke Van Woudenberg, a Human Rights Watch researcher, more than 20 people were killed overnight in Goma alone. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice contacted Rwandan President Paul Kagame to discuss a long-term solution. Also, on 31 October, British Foreign Minister David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner flew to the region, with the intention of stopping in Kinshasa, Goma, and possibly Kigali.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 6 November, rebels broke the ceasefire and wrested control of another town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in clashes with government forces on the eve of a regional summit on the crisis. National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) rebels seized control of the centre of Nyanzale, an important army base in Nord-Kivu province after government forces fled. Residents reported that rebels had shot dead civilians suspected of supporting pro-government militia.


title: Kivu conflict

text: In November 2008, during the clashes around Goma, a UN source reported that Angolan troops were seen taking part in combat operations alongside government forces. Kinshasa repeatedly denied that foreign troops were on its soil — an assertion echoed by the UN mission, which has 17,000 blue-helmeted peacekeepers on the ground. There is "military cooperation" between Congo and Angola, and that "there are perhaps Angolan (military) instructors in country", according to the UN. Angola, a former Portuguese colony, sided with Kinshasa in the 1998–2003 Second Congo War that erupted when Democratic Republic of Congo was in a massive rebellion.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 22 January 2009, the Rwandan military, during a joint operation with the Congolese Army, captured Nkunda as he fled from DR Congo into neighbouring Rwanda. Rwandan officials have yet to say if he will be handed over to DR Congo, which has issued an international warrant for his arrest. A military spokesperson said Nkunda had been seized after sending three battalions to repel an advance by a joint Congolese-Rwandan force. The force was part of a joint Congolese-Rwandan operation which was launched to hunt Rwandan Hutu militiamen operating in DR Congo. Nkunda is currently being held at an undisclosed location in Rwanda. A Rwandan military spokesman has claimed, however, that Nkunda is being held at Gisenyi, a city in Rubavu district in the Western Province of Rwanda. DR Congo's government suggested his capture would end the activities of one of the country's most feared rebel groups, recently split by a leadership dispute.


title: Kivu conflict

text: With the ending of the joint Rwandan-DRC offensive against Hutu militiamen responsible for the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, the Kivu conflict effectively ended. On 23 March 2009, the CNDP signed a peace treaty with the government, in which it agreed to become a political party in exchange for the release of its members.


title: Kivu conflict

text: Over the weekend of 9/10 May 2009, FDLR Rwandan Hutu rebels were blamed for attacks on the villages of Ekingi and Busurungi in Congo's eastern South Kivu province. More than 90 people were killed at Ekingi, including 60 civilians and 30 government troops, and "dozens more" were said to be killed at Busurungi. The FDLR were blamed by the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; the UN's peacekeeping force, MONUC, and the Congolese Army investigated the attacks. The FDLR had attacked several other villages in the preceding weeks and clashes occurred between FDLR forces and the Congolese Army, during which government forces are reported to have lost men. The most recent attacks had forced a significant number of people from their homes in Busurungi to Hombo, north. The Congolese Army and MONUC were planning operations in South Kivu to eliminate the FDLR.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 18 August, three Indian UN soldiers were killed by Mai-Mai rebels in a surprise attack at a MONUSCO base in Kirumba, Nord-Kivu. On 23 October, Mai-Mai rebels attacked a MONUSCO base in Rwindi ( north of Kirumba). UN troops killed 8 rebels in the battle.


title: Kivu conflict

text: In March 2009, the CNDP had signed a peace treaty with the government, in which it agreed to become a political party in exchange for the release of its imprisoned members. In April 2012, former National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) soldiers mutinied against the government. The mutineers formed a rebel group called the March 23 Movement (M23). Former CNDP commander Bosco Ntaganda, known as "the Terminator" is accused of founding the movement. On 4 April, it was reported that Ntaganda and 300 loyal troops defected from the DRC and clashed with government forces in the Rutshuru region north of Goma. Africa Confidential said on 25 May 2012 that "the revolt now seems to be as much about resisting an attempt by Kinshasa to disrupt CNDP networks in the restive Kivu provinces, a process of which Ntaganda may find himself a casualty."


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 20 November 2012, the M23 took control of Goma after the national army retreated westward. MONUSCO, the United Nations peacekeeping force, watched the takeover without intervening, stating that its mandate allowed it only to protect civilians. M23 withdrew from Goma in early December following negotiations with the government and regional powers.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 24 February 2013, leaders of 11 African nations signed an agreement designed to bring peace to the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The M23 rebels were not represented in the deal's negotiations or at the signing. Following disagreements in the M23 about how to react to the peace agreements, M23 political coordinator Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero, was sacked by its military chief Sultani Makenga. Makenga declared himself interim leader and clashes between those loyal to him and those loyal to Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero, who is allied with Bosco Ntaganda, have killed ten men and two others were hospitalised.


title: Kivu conflict

text: In March 2013, the United Nations Security Council authorized the deployment of an intervention brigade within MONUSCO to carry out targeted offensive operations, with or without the Congolese national army, against armed groups that threaten peace in eastern DRC. It is the first peacekeeping unit tasked with carrying out offensive operations.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 28 March 2013, faced with recurrent waves of conflict in eastern DRC threatening the overall stability and development of the country and wider Great Lakes region, the Security Council decided, by its Resolution 2098, to create a specialized "intervention brigade" for an initial period of one year and within the authorized MONUSCO troop ceiling of 19,815. It would consist of three infantry battalions, one artillery and one special force and reconnaissance company and operate under direct command of the MONUSCO Force Commander, with the responsibility of neutralizing armed groups and the objective of contributing to reducing the threat posed by armed groups to state authority and civilian security in eastern DRC and to make space for stabilization activities.


title: Kivu conflict

text: The council also decided that MONUSCO shall strengthen the presence of its military, police and civilian components in eastern DRC and reduce, to the fullest extent possible for the implementation of its mandate, its presence in areas not affected by conflict in particular Kinshasa and in western DRC.


title: Kivu conflict

text: The last batch of the Malawi troops committed to the MONUSCO Force Intervention Brigade arrived in Goma, North Kivu province, on 7 October 2013. They will be part of the 3000- strong force to which Tanzania and South Africa are the other two troop contributing countries.


title: Kivu conflict

text: Since the arrival of its first troops in June 2013, the Intervention Brigade has already gone into action resulting in the withdrawal of M23, from its initial positions in Kanyaruchinya, on 31 August 2013.


title: Kivu conflict

text: The Intervention Brigade is now at its full strength with the arrival of the Malawi infantry battalion. Tanzania, South Africa and Malawi have been picked for the UN Stabilization Mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO) because of the wide experience they gained in other UN Peacekeeping missions. For instance, 95 percent of the Malawi troops have been already in peacekeeping missions in Kosovo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sudan, and they are well prepared to face any operational challenges.


title: Kivu conflict

text: In January 2015, it was reported that UN and Congo troops were preparing an offensive on FDLR in the Kivu region, while striking FNL-Nzabampema positions on Eastern Congo on 5 January 2015. Several days earlier an infiltration by an unknown rebel group from Eastern Congo to Burundi left 95 rebels and 2 Burundi soldiers dead.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 13 January 2015, the Congolese military held a press conference announcing the destruction of four of the 20 militant factions operating in South Kivu. The Raïa Mutomboki armed group will undergo disarmament. A total of 39 rebels were killed and 24 captured since the start of the Sokola 2 operation in October 2014, 55 weapons and large quantities of ammunition were also seized. FARDC casualties amounted to 8 killed and 4 wounded.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 25 January 2015, 85 Raïa Mutomboki rebels surrendered to the authorities in the town of Mubambiro, North Kivu; the former militants will be gradually integrated into FARDC. Earlier in January, Raïa Mutomboki, founder Nyanderema, approached the town of Luizi with a group of 9 fighters, announcing their abandonment of armed struggle. 24 rifles, 2 grenades and other military equipment was transferred to FARDC during the two incidents.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 31 January, the DRC troops launched a campaign against the FDLR Hutu rebels. On 13 March 2015, a military spokesman announced that a total of 182 FDLR rebels were killed since the start of the January offensive. Large amounts of weaponry and ammunition were seized, as the army recaptured the towns of Kirumba Kagondo, Kahumiro, Kabwendo, Mugogo, Washing 1 and 2, Kisimba 1, 2 and 3, among other locales.


title: Kivu conflict

text: In January 2016, fighting broke out between the FDLR, ADF and Mai-Mai militias, which resulted in thousands fleeing to surrounding areas in North Kivu's Goma


title: Kivu conflict

text: Approximately 1.7 million were forced to flee their homes in the DR Congo in 2017 as a result of intensified fighting. Ulrika Blom, a relief worker from Norway, has noted the magnitude of the refugee crisis by comparing the numbers to Yemen, Syria, and Iraq.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 27 September 2017, fighting erupted in Uvira as anti-government rebels of the CNPSC attempted to capture the city. This was part of an offensive launched in June of the same year.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 7 December 2017, an attack orchestrated by the Allied Democratic Forces on a UN base in Semuliki in the North Kivu region resulted in the death of at least 15 UN peacekeepers from the MONUSCO mission. This attack drew international criticism, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres describing the incident, the worst altercation involving peacekeepers in recent history, as a "war crime". The assault, in terms of fatalities, was the most severe suffered by peacekeepers since an ambush in Somalia in 1993. The peacekeeping regiment that came under attack was composed of troops from Tanzania. In addition to the peacekeepers, five soldiers from the FARDC were killed in the attack. Analysts felt that the size and scale of the attack was unprecedented, but that it represented another step in the conflict which has been prevalent in the region for many years. The motivation for the attack was unknown, but it was expected to further destabilise the region. The Congolese forces claimed that the Islamist ADF lost 72 militants in the attack, raising the total number of fatalities in excess of 90.


title: Kivu conflict

text: During 2018, ADF carried out numerous attacks to Beni, inflicting high casualties to civilians and government soldiers:


title: Kivu conflict

text: In addition, on 16 December 2018, Maï-Maï militiamen attacked the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) warehouse in Beni ahead of 23 December election, security forces repel attackers without suffering casualties. According to the Congo Research Group (a study project at New York University), as of 2018, 134 armed groups are active in North and South Kivu.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 31 October 2019, the Congolese army launched a large scale offensive against the ADF in the Beni Territory of the North Kivu Province. According to spokesman General Leon Richard Kasonga, "The DRC armed forces launched large-scale operations overnight Wednesday to eradicate all domestic and foreign armed groups that plague the east of the country and destabilize the Great Lakes region." The operation is being carried out by the FARDC without any foreign support. The focus is primarily on the ADF but also other armed groups are being targeted.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 13 January 2020, the Congolese army raided ADF's headquarters camp, nicknamed "Madina", which is located near Beni. 30 Congolese soldiers were killed and 70 were wounded in the intense battle with ADF. 40 ADF insurgents were also reported killed, including five top commanders. The Congolese army nevertheless captures the camp, but fails to apprehend the target of the raid, ADF leader Musa Baluku.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 20 October 2020, more than 1,300 prisoners escaped from a jail in Beni after an attack claimed by the ISCAP (Islamic State's Central Africa Province).


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 26 October 2020, The Congolese armed forces took control of the headquarters of Burundi rebel group National Forces of Liberation (NFL) after three days of intense fighting. The army also said they fought some members of the National Resistance Council for Democracy (NRCD). Troops killed 27 rebels, seizing arms and ammunition, while three soldiers died in the fighting, with another four wounded. Now the rebels are fleeing toward the forests of Muranvia, Nyaburunda and Kashongo as well as the Nyanzale Rudaga valley.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 31 December 2020, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) massacred 25 civilians in the village of Tingwe. On 1 January 2021, the village of Loselose was recaptured by DRC after a battle between Congolese army, supported by UN peacekeepers and ADF. Two Congolese soldiers and 14 Islamist militants were killed, seven Congolese soldiers were wounded.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 4 January 2021, ADF attacked villages of Tingwe, Mwenda and Nzenga and killed 25 civilians and kidnapped several others. DRC authorities also discovered 21 civilian bodies "in a state of decomposition" in Loselose and Loulo.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 4 February 2021, ISIS operatives exchanged fire with Congolese soldiers in the Rwenzori region, on the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Three soldiers were killed and several others were wounded. The other soldiers fled. ISIS operatives seized vehicles, weapons and ammunition.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 22 February 2021, the Italian ambassador to DR Congo Luca Attanasio, an Italian law enforcement official and a driver were killed in an attack on a UN convoy near the town of Kanyamahoro, 16 kilometers north of Goma.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 26 February 2021, IS operatives killed at least 35 Congolese soldiers and wounded many more after a Congolese army force approached IS positions in Losilosi, in the Beni region.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 6 March 2021, IS militants attacked Congolese forces in a village in the Irumu region. During the attack, at least 7 soldiers were killed and the rest fled. IS operative seized weapons and ammunition.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 31 March 2021, ADF militants linked to ISIS, massacred 23 civilians after attacking a village in the Beni region.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 9 April 2021, two civilians trucks transporting Christian civilians were targeted by ISIL gunfire southeast of Beni. 5 of the passengers were killed. A Congolese soldier was also shot dead in the area on the same day.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 23 April 2021, Congolese army camps were targeted by ISCAP militants in the Oicha region. One Congolese soldier was killed in the attacks.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 30 April 2021, president Felix Tshisekedi declared a "state of siege" over the province of North Kivu that went into effect on 6 May. The state of siege will last for 30 days in which the province will be under military rule.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 5 May 2021, the FARDC attacked and captured the village of Nyabiondo from APCLS. During the fighting a woman was wounded.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 24 May 2021, ISIS operatives attacked a Congolese army camp near Kanjabai Prison, in the Beni region, about 50 km west of the Congo-Uganda border. Two soldiers were killed in the exchange of fire. ISIS operatives set fire to the camp.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 29 June 2021, two Congolese soldiers were killed after ISCAP attacked their positions in the Ituri region.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 29 July 2021, ISCAP militants attack a convoy of Christian civilians on the Ituri-Beni highway, killing one civilians and destroying 6 vehicles.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 9 August, ISIL forces took control of the villages of Mavivi and Malibungo in the Ituri region, killing at least one Congolese soldier and capturing 3 others.


title: Kivu conflict

text: On 13 September, ISCAP forces attacked a village in the Ituri region, burning down the homes of several Christians and executing at least one Congolese soldier.


title: Kivu conflict

text: From 28 March 2022, the M23 Movement launched a new offensive in North Kivu, allegedly with Rwandan and Ugandan support. The offensive resulted in the displacement of tens of thousands of refugees, while the rebels had been able to capture some territory by June.


title: Kivu conflict

text: Towns and villages on the list of combat activities were; Beni, Kanyabayonga, Rutshuru, Rumangabo, Goma, Walikale, Bannyahe,


title: Kivu conflict

text: Rubavu, Sake, Masisi and Bunagana. War broke out in other areas like Nyagatare, Butare, Bukavu, Fizi and Uvira. M23 has to form a governing alliance with the fighting parties. General S.Makenga was the military commander of M23. The number of refugees has doubled, the first groups of refugees have not been resettled.


title: Kivu conflict

text: Violence is widespread: "In Masisi 99.1% (897/905) and Kitchanga 50.4% (509/1020) of households reported at least one member subjected to violence. Displacement was reported by 39.0% of households (419/1075) in Kitchanga and 99.8% (903/905) in Masisi," one study found.


title: Kivu conflict

text: Many armed groups participating in the conflict have used children as active combatants. According to the report published [on 23 October 2013], almost 1,000 cases of child recruitment by armed groups were verified by MONUSCO between 1 January 2012 and 31 August 2013, predominantly in the district of North Kivu. The use of child soldiers in the Kivu conflict constitutes another example of the use of child soldiers in the DRC. The UN has asserted that some of the girls being used as belligerents are also subjected to sexual assault, and are treated as sex slaves.


title: Kivu conflict

text: The Kivu conflict has created chaos and disorder in the regions of North and South Kivu. MONUSCO believe that widespread sexual assault has been perpetrated against women in this regions by all sides of the conflict, something which the UNHCR has condemned. Incidents have involved the rape and sexual assault of both women and girls, included the incorporation of girls into militia forces as sex slaves. The most publicised example of sexual violence occurred in November 2012 in Minova. Having retreated to the town, FARDC troops conducted systematic rape against the women and girls over a period of three days. This resulted in widespread international condemnation, prompting the Army to begin an investigation in order to prosecute the perpetrators of the sexual assaults. In 2014, the "Minova Trial" was conducted. It was the largest rape tribunal in the nation's history. While the American Bar Association, which had an office in Goma, had identified more than 1,000 potential victims, the official list composed by the UN only had 126, of whom 56 testified at the trial. For reasons of safety, those testifying were forced to hide their faces by donning hoods. In the end, only a few junior officers were convicted. Sexual violence in the region has continued, but by 2015, funding had declined for sanctuaries for the women and protection.


title: Kivu conflict

text: The role of conflict minerals in the conflict is highly debated. Certain NGOs, like the Enough Project, say that the illegal exploitation of minerals is the main cause of the ongoing violence in the Kivus. A United Nations report supported this view. However, many academic and independent researchers (both Congolese and international) challenge this interpretation, arguing that while conflict minerals are undoubtedly one of the many causes of violence in the region, they are most likely not the most significant and impactful one.


title: Kivu conflict

text: The most prominent and prevalent conflict mineral procured in the Kivu districts is gold. Due to its high financial value, rival militias will attack one another for control of the mineral. An investigation into conflict minerals in relation to the Kivu conflict found that "gold is now, as of 2013, the most important conflict mineral in eastern Congo, with at least 12 tons worth roughly $500 million smuggled out of the east every year." These high financial revenues were identified as the primary incentives for the mining and capture of gold. To illustrate this, this study looked at one specific rebel group, determining that "The M23 rebel group has taken over a profitable part of the conflict gold trade in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo...It is using revenues from the illicit trade to benefit its leaders and supporters and fund its military campaign by building military alliances and networks with other armed groups that control territory around gold mines and by smuggling gold through Uganda and Burundi. M23 commander Sultani Makenga, who is also allegedly one of the rebels' main recruiters of child soldiers according to the U.N. Group of Experts on Congo, is at the center of the conflict gold efforts."


title: Kivu conflict

text: In 2021, the Transnational Institute published a report about the role of the arms trade in displacements, finding that "between 2012 and 2015 Bulgaria exported assault rifles, large-calibre artillery systems, light machine guns, hand-held under-barrel and mounted grenade launchers to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national police and military. [...] Bulgarian weapons were in use in North Kivu in 2017 coinciding with the forced displacement of 523,000 people." Highlighting the role of the military in human rights abuses, they write that FARDC soldiers in North Kivu "possessed Bulgarian-manufactured ARSENAL weaponry that had been exported to the DRC." The UN found the FARDC to have been responsible for at least 20% of the human rights violations it documented in this region.


title: Middle Class Abbayi

text: Middle Class Abbayi (), also known as MCA, is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film written and directed by Venu Sriram and produced by Dil Raju. The film stars Nani, Sai Pallavi and Bhumika Chawla. Devi Sri Prasad composed the soundtrack and score.


title: Middle Class Abbayi

text: The film was released theatrically on 21 December 2017 and received mixed reviews from critics, but became a clean box office hit. It was remade in Hindi as "Nikamma" (2022).


title: Middle Class Abbayi

text: Nani is a middle-class youth with an eidetic memory, who stays at his uncle's house in Hyderabad. He has issues with his brother's house because he dislikes his sister-in-law Jyothi, an RTO officer. Nani's elder brother asks him to go to Warangal to aid Jyothi in the new place. He falls for Pallavi, who proposes to him in the first encounter. Nani realizes that Pallavi is Jyothi's sister after she arrives to live with them. She tells him that she has seen her during his brother's wedding and has been in love with him. Jyothi learns about Nani and Pallavi's love towards each other and pursues Pallavi's father (Jyothi's uncle) to accept their relationship, who refuses. Jyothi tries to pursue Nani to become a software engineer, but to no avail.


title: Middle Class Abbayi

text: Meanwhile, Jyothi seizes two buses with the same number which belongs to "Siva Shakti Travels", owned by a gangster named "Warangal" Siva, who threatens Jyothi with dire consequences. Nani learns about Jyothi's sacrifices and realizes his mistake. When Siva threatens Jyothi at the RTO office, Nani thrashes him in public and warns him. Nani and Siva agree to bet on Jyothi's life without letting anyone know about this. Siva plans various strategies to murder Jyothi, but Nani intelligently rescues her, Siva kidnaps Jyothi and hides her in the one of the bus which she seized. Nani ask Jyothi's whereabouts to Siva, who commits suicide and is taken to the hospital. Nani figures out the bus and saves Jyothi. Siva survives, but loses his memory and starts his life afresh. Nani marries Pallavi while fooling her father that he is a software engineer.