This Week in the Great Lakes: Ben Affleck explains why Congo is worth caring about

Congolese women also work in mines. Congolese men are also raped.

Thirty-three prisoners escaped from a jail in Bulowo, near Lubambashi. "This jailbreak is not linked to bad prison conditions, though we have just one holding area, in which those sentenced for 30 years are next to those serving a few months," the prison director said.

Congolese phones get e-mail and Internet-based chat services. Congo shuts 100 "non-viable" universities. DRC records 63 new polio cases. Belgians drive across Congo.

Burundi sends 850 more soldiers to Somalia, bringing the deployment total to 8,000. The Ugandan force commander says the mission needs another 12,000. Burundi asks for a review of the AU mission's mandate.

Four people were killed in a shootout with government forces near the border with DRC. Burundi opposition leaders ask for dialogue. Burundi's ruling party snubs a dialogue meeting of the diaspora in Holland.

Inflation rises 4.7 percent. Tea earnings fall 4 percent. Bujumbura paves streets with 10 million Belgian Euros. The British twin their toilets to Burundian outhouses and "flush away poverty."

In the region, the East African Community is short on cash. The UN asks for money. The US asked for DNA and other biometric data on Great Lakes political VIPs. A regional peace forum questions the controversial UN Congo Mapping report. Rwanda and Burundi refuse to sign a non-proliferation agreement on light weapons; eight other countries have.

– Jina Moore is a freelance reporter based in Kigali, Rwanda who blogs at JinaMoore.com.

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