Climate change, including extreme events such as storms, floods and sustained droughts, is already having an impact on settlements and infrastructure in Africa, especially in coastal regions. Three of the five global regions most at risk of flooding are located in Africa: in the Nile delta of North Africa, in the long coastal belt along the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, and at the large cities of Maputo, Beira and Cape Town in Southern Africa. The UN has also predicted that there will be millions of ‘environmental’ migrants by 2020 with climate change as one of the major drivers of this phenomenon. Those parts of the population that already suffer from poor health conditions, unemployment or social exclusion are rendered more vulnerable to the effects of climate change which could amplify or trigger migration within and between countries.

All-in-all, the DRC’s oil production has performed poorly – something which can in part be attributed to the total control of the sector under the company Perenco. However, the status quo looks set to change, with new exploration points arising, and the government stating its intention to increase production on the west coast. On shore, the government also hopes that oilfields which have been in production since the 1970’s have in fact been underexploited.

The African media and academia tend to be negative about the activities of the ICC, arguing, amongst other things, that the ICC is too selective when it comes to the prosecution of perpetrators. The ICC is focussed too much on Africa, where crimes against humanity committed in other parts of the world are often, selectively, ignored. At a seminar conducted by the Centre for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town, South Africa, the opinion was raised that the ICC focuses on economically weak and politically vulnerable countries and countries which do not have the capacity or political will to try perpetrators of crimes against humanity. This leads some analysts from the developing world to believe that the ICC has a political agenda, since powerful states and actors will not be subject to trial and justice, stating the recent example of Russia and Georgia. Fears also exist that powerful states could manipulate the Court according to their own geo-political agenda and in the process exasperate existing conflicts.

The report documents the political and religious suppression of the "Bundu dia Kongo" (translated from Kikongo to mean the "Kingdom of Congo") on the part of the police in early-March 2008. According to the UN, the Congolese rapid response police unit and the integrated police unit were deployed to the province to counter Bundu dia Kongo's meetings. This came on the back of the movements’ attempts to usurp national control, and takeover certain remote areas of the province by replacing local authorities, policemen, magistrates, and priests with their own people. As history has shown, this process is actually quite a common feature of the Bas Congo region. Occurring roughly every two decades, the people of the Kongo tribe reportedly discover a new prophet who will speak out against authorities. It is little wonder that authorities would be worried about the movement of such a group - during Belgian colonial rule one such 'prophet' - Simon Kimbangu - founded a new church whose members nowadays amount to millions in the DRC.