Adventures of a Retired Armchair Traveler

"MONUC may not have turned Congo into heaven, but it may have prevented it from turning into hell."

2009-11-04T09:15:13Z

Last night on BBC, I caught one of the shows during my rush hour commute
that focused on the idea of MONUC withdrawing from DR Congo. The lines were
open to take calls, and opinions ranged from a 5th year student saying that
MONUC has done nothing and should leave, to other Congolese outside the
country and even someone in Liberia saying, you may not see the positive
effects of UN presence now, but you will feel it when they leave. One person
even summed it up this way (paraphrased): "MONUC may not have turned Congo
into heaven, but it may have prevented it from turning into hell."

The local press has been covering the fact that MONUC will still provide
support to Kimia II, an operation undertaken in conjunction with the
Congolese army (FARDC) that has resulted in more civilian deaths in the east
than prior to its initiation. The FARDC has been accused of massacres since
May of this year. The local press is accusing MONUC of covering up
information related to the killings.

Some people calling in to the BBC show thought that removal of MONUC from
the east or other parts of the country would be the only way to encourage
the government of DR Congo to take responsibility for its security
situation, while others disagreed, pointing out that the country is too big
even for the current mission of 17,000 to cover. This size mission cannot
even cover the entire territory in the east where insecurity still reigns.
With or without MONUC, the government of DR Congo must make moves to bolster
the capacity and effectiveness of its uniformed forces to establish rule of
law.

At least three clashes in the east over the past week have been reported via
Radio Okapi, one between FDLR rebels and Mai Mai, one between FARDC and the
Mai Mai Yakutumba militia, and one between FARDC and recently integrated Mai
Mai combattants.

New friends

2009-10-06T00:38:01Z

I'm not that great at making new friends but sometimes it's fun, especially when I have nothing to do with it. I went to meet one friend in DC, who brought her other friend, and these other three people sat down with them and they'd all already made friends before I arrived. So we drank for half price and talked and laughed and told us the saga of the happy hour at the gay bar across the way and I asked the guy about his freelance photography job, and then they said they were off to a drag show so my friends made plans to meet up with them next week, and I thought, now that's a good day's work.

Doctor Strike in DR Congo

2009-09-04T09:44:39Z

This week, government doctors went on strike for higher pay, as threatened last week.

I heard on Radio Okapi this morning that they are demanding more money in increases than the current annual health budget allocation.

Here is a summary of local press from the US Embassy re: the strike from September 2:

Doctor’s Strike

“Paralysis in Public Hospitals” is how La Tempete Des Tropiques describes the ongoing doctors’ strike, with a back-page cartoon showing a doctor telling a patient that a nurse will take care of him, then telling the nurse to refer the patient to their private clinic. L’Avenir announces the end of the strike, but a close read of the article shows that while there might have been progress in talks, an agreement has yet to be reached. L’Observateur links the doctors’ strike, a potential teachers’ strike, and the recent death threats against government officials formerly linked to Jean-Paul Bemba as “A New Conspiracy against the Republic.” On its front-page, the newspaper editorializes: “More and more, we are in agreement with those who say that the young Congolese democracy is in trouble.” According to the newspaper, the strikes and death threats are evidence that “organized forces don’t want the new system … to function properly.”

Apparently there is also a teacher strike on the horizon:

Gathering Clouds

L’Observateur sees the potential teachers’ strike as the fault of the Budget Minister, who claims the government does not have the funds to pay teachers. “Clouds are gathering in the Congolese sky,” the newspaper comments. “Those who have the destiny of their country in their hands must assume their responsibilities. If not, the popular verdict will be unforgiving. National elections are not far away.”

Video footage of Mutombo Hospital during BD/UNICEF visit

2009-08-28T11:31:25Z

Here's a link to a couple minutes of footage of the visit mentioned in the press release in the previous post. You can see some views of inside the hospital.

http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/d/13419.html

Press Release: NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman and BD commemor

2009-08-28T10:52:12Z

NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman and BD commemorate opening of new center to improve HIV/AIDS treatment in the DRC

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_50959.html

NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman and BD
commemorate opening of new center to improve HIV/AIDS treatment in the DRC

*KINSHASA, DRC, 26 August 2009** –* The Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and
Research Center (BMMH), in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo and BD
(Becton, Dickinson and Company) today launched two Centers of Excellence -
an Immune System Monitoring Laboratory and an Occupational Safety Centre for
Health Workers - at the state of the art medical facility founded by NBA
legend Dikembe Mutombo. The safety center will train more than 300
clinicians, and the new laboratory will improve monitoring and treatment of
patients living with HIV/AIDS.

Mr. Mutombo was joined at the opening ceremonies by UNICEF Executive
Director Ann M. Veneman, BD Executive Vice President Gary Cohen, and the DRC
Minister of Public Health, Mwami Mopipi Mukulumany. The Center is an
expansion of the BMMH, an acute care hospital which opened in 2007 and
provides care to thousands of patients each year in a region of the world
where over five million people have died from violence, hunger and disease
since 1998.

“The doctors and nurses at the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital are saving
lives every day and helping improve health care in the DRC which has been
ravaged by more than a decade of war and disease,” said Mr. Mutombo. “These
Centers of Excellence are an important milestone in improving the quality of
life for those who live with HIV/AIDS and in training new health care
workers to help prevent the spread of disease.”

The new Centers will provide laboratory equipment, reagents and training to
improve immune system monitoring, an essential component of treating people
living with HIV/AIDS. To help ensure the safety of healthcare workers at the
facility, DMF will develop a Department of Occupational Health and a
Regional Training Center at the BMMH. BD, in collaboration with the
University of Virginia, will help implement the Exposure Prevention
Information Network (EPINet™) surveillance system to monitor occupational
injuries at BMMH. BD will also provide a range of safety-engineered
injection and safety-engineered blood collection devices as well as
laboratory and occupational safety training for at least 330 healthcare
workers.

“The problems of pandemic disease prevalence and occupational risks to
health workers exist throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but pose particular
challenges in countries emerging from conflict,” said Mr. Cohen. “We are
proud to partner with Dikembe Mutombo, and to support his efforts to provide
essential medical care to the people of Kinshasa and DRC, his home country.”

The World Bank estimates that nearly 70 per cent of the population of the
DRC is living on $1.25 or less a day. Around half a million children under
the age of five die every year in the DRC. Most of these deaths are from
largely preventable causes, such as diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria,
tuberculosis and malnutrition and measles. Over one million people in DRC
are living with HIV/AIDS. Sexual violence of the most brutal form has been
carried out against tens of thousands, over half of them children.

“The Democratic Republic of Congo remains one of the poorest countries in
Africa with poverty, conflict and disease contributing to a public health
crisis for the country’s most vulnerable people,” said Ms. Veneman.
“Partnerships such as the one we recognize today are addressing this
devastating situation and help provide an infrastructure for expanded care
and services to those who otherwise would not have access to these
life-saving resources.”

The UNICEF Executive Director also commended Mr. Mutombo for his dedication
and commitment to his home country.

“It is such an honor to be here today at the hospital founded in the memory
of Dikembe’s mother,” said Ms.Veneman. “He is a true friend of UNICEF and
his dedication for his home country is an inspiration to us all. Dikembe
continues to give a voice to the voiceless people of Democratic Republic of
the Congo.”

Through the work of a broad collaboration of partners including UNICEF,
government, the private sector, NGOs, religious leaders and communities,
progress is being made in the DRC but much work remains to be done,
especially in reaching the “hard-to-reach” given the size and the limited
infrastructure of the country. Community based integrated health programs
are providing life saving interventions that include: vaccination of 5 to 7
million children each year against polio, measles and other diseases;
vitamin A supplementation for 11 million children aged between 6 and 59
months: insecticide treated mosquito nets to protect against malaria;
nutritional treatment for 320,000 acutely malnourished children, including
60,000 affected to a severe degree in 2008; de-worming tablets for 9 million
children; access to clean drinking water in rural communities; and HIV/AIDS
prevention and treatment.

*Attn broadcasters: VNS and b-roll is available at:*
www.thenewsmarket.com/unicef

# # #

*About the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation*
The Dikembe Mutombo Foundation is dedicated to improving the health,
education and quality of life for the people of the Democratic Republic of
the Congo. The Foundation strives to accomplish this goal not only by
providing comprehensive health care at the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital,
but also through an emphasis on primary health care and disease prevention,
the promotion of health policy, health research and increased access to
health care education for the people of the Congo. www.dmf.org

*About BD*
BD is a leading global medical technology company that develops,
manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. The
Company is dedicated to improving people's health throughout the world. BD
is focused on improving drug delivery, enhancing the quality and speed of
diagnosing infectious diseases and cancers, and advancing research,
discovery and production of new drugs and vaccines. BD's capabilities are
instrumental in combating many of the world's most pressing diseases.
Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, BD employs
approximately 28,000 people in approximately 50 countries throughout the
world. The Company serves healthcare institutions, life science researchers,
clinical laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry and the general public.
www.bd.com

*About UNICEF*
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help
children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The
world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF
supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality
basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from
violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the
voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and
governments. www.unicef.org

*For more information, please contact:*
Kate Donovan, UNICEF Media, New York,
Tel + 1 212 326 7452,
E-mail: kdonovan@unicef.org

Susan M. Johnson, Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, Inc.
Tel + 866 289 2108,
E-mail: mutombo@dmf.org

Audio slideshow: Making music in Freetown

2009-08-14T12:47:16Z

Everywhere you go in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, there is music. People plays songs from makeshift music shops and watch music videos on small TV screens powered by generators.

Check out Glenna Gordon's fabulous photos and listen to audio featuring local music video producer Ayouba Sidibay.

Important resources for Humanitarians

2009-08-13T13:08:31Z

1. Visit inepd.org to find out what you can do for the global enabling of
poverty development.

2. Visit unfg.org for a great tool for generating gobbledegook for your next
annual report. No joke. For example:

The involvement of different stakeholders in the study resulted in
cross-cutting organisational Education for All policies targeted at
improving enrolment and retention rates amongst marginalized groups.

In the context of decentralization, the Chief Technical Adviser will work to
unlock clusters, through sector-wide reciprocal cost-benefit analysis
frameworks for development assistance planning.
In the context of improving the legal and regulatory framework, the Member
States will develop holistic outcome-oriented feasibility studies of
recommendations for change to be implemented.

Clinton's visit to Kinshasa

2009-08-11T11:55:25Z

Check out Twitter for updates from yesterday's Town Hall in Kinshasa with
Hillary Rodham Clinton:

http://twitter.com/congogirl

Dear men, if you are HIV+ and you get circumcised, hold off just a few weeks for her sake.

2009-08-06T15:25:54Z

GLOBAL: Male circumcision does not protect women

JOHANNESBURG, 17 July 2009 (PLUSNEWS) - New research suggests that
circumcising HIV-positive men does not reduce the risk of their female
partners becoming HIV-infected.

The findings, reported on 17 July in the British medical journal, The
Lancet, emerged from a clinical trial in Rakai District, southern Uganda,
involving 922 HIV-infected men and 163 of their HIV-negative female
partners.

Half the men were circumcised at the start of the two-year trial; the other
half, who made up the control group, were circumcised at the end of it.
Their uninfected female partners were followed up after six, 12 and 24
months to determine whether they had acquired HIV from their male partners.

Male circumcision has become a recommended HIV-prevention strategy since
three clinical trials, one of which was also held in Rakai, showed that the
procedure could reduce the HIV risk to men by as much as 60 percent. Until
now, little was known about whether male circumcision also reduced the risk
of HIV infection in women.

Previous observational studies suggested that the partners of circumcised
HIV-infected men were less likely to acquire HIV, but the trial in Rakai
failed to confirm this. Out of 92 couples in the circumcised group, 18
percent of the women became infected during the study period, compared to 12
percent of women in the uncircumcised control group.

Male circumcision may actually have increased the HIV risk to some of the
women in the intervention group. After six months, women whose partners
ignored advice to abstain from sex for at least six weeks after the
circumcision procedure had an HIV acquisition rate of 27.8 percent,
compared to 9.5 percent among women whose male partners delayed sex until
healing was complete, and 7.9 percent among women with uncircumcised
partners.

The trial was stopped early because of "futility", meaning that the
accumulation of further data was unlikely to produce substantially different
results.

The findings are likely to have important implications for the male
circumcision programmes being rolled out in a number of countries with high
rates of HIV, including Zambia, Swaziland, Kenya and Uganda. The programmes
have received substantial backing from governments, international donors and
UN agencies.

In an accompanying comment in The Lancet, Jared Baeten, of the University
of Washington's Departments of Global Health and Medicine, cautioned that
the results of the Rakai trial "should in no way hinder programmes working
to scale up circumcision services for men at risk for HIV".

Circumcising HIV-positive men may not directly reduce HIV risk to their
female partners, but large-scale male circumcision programmes would benefit
women in the long term by bringing down overall HIV prevalence in
communities.

Baeten also agreed with the study authors that the results should not
prevent HIV-infected men from qualifying for the procedure, because
excluding them could lead to stigmatization and deny them other health
benefits, including a reduction in genital ulcer diseases.

The findings reinforced the need for men undergoing the procedure to
receive extensive counselling about the importance of delaying sex for at
least six weeks afterwards, the continued need to use condoms, and to reduce
partner numbers.

ks/he

See also: AFRICA: Mass male circumcision - what will it mean for
women?[END]

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Wronging Rights Blog

2009-08-06T11:27:58Z

How did I not discover this blog sooner???

http://wrongingrights.blogspot.com/

It's worse than "sexual violence," and men are targeted, too.

2009-08-05T08:50:16Z

This snippet is from a blog entry from last week, which continues to briefly
describe the nature of the violence and its results on women's bodies.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2009/07/30/hillary-clintons-congo-trip-will-shed-light-on-sexual-violence.html

"Sexual violence as thought of in the West does not begin to describe what
the Congolese women endure. Not only are they raped repeated and physically
brutalized, they are forced to watch their infants slaughtered upon birth."

Last week, someone told me that 22% of men in the military in DRC have been
raped, and it seems that the militia in the east are raping men at a rate
almost as alarming as that of women, with similar disastrous psychological
and physical ramifications that current aid projects and local resources
cannot begin to address.

The NYT article published yesterday is worth a read but could be
triggering. Here's a relatively neutral summary paragraph:

"According to Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, United Nations officials and
several Congolese aid organizations, the number of men who have been raped
has risen sharply in recent months, a consequence of joint Congo-Rwanda
military operations against rebels that have uncapped an appalling level of
violence against civilians."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/world/africa/05congo.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Secretary of State to visit DRC

2009-08-05T08:23:12Z

*Clinton's Africa tour to highlight US
commitments<http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/aleqm5hyyd5hji2indko01yp8hbyxiy1zwd99rokt00>
*
*The Associated Press – August 4, 2009*
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's seven-nation tour of Africa
seeks to affirm a commitment by the Obama administration to tackle trouble
spots from Somalia and Zimbabwe to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Liberia. Clinton kicked off the 11-day trip — her longest overseas journey
to date as the top U.S. diplomat — by flying Monday night to Kenya where she
will address an African trade and development forum, meet top Kenyan
officials and see the beleaguered president of lawless Somalia's interim
government. …In Pretoria, Johannesburg and Capetown, Clinton will also
underscore the importance of efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and pledge
continuing U.S. backing for health care initiatives in Africa, some of which
have been led by her husband's private foundation.

*Congolese press regarding Clinton visit (Compiled by US EMB Aug 4)*
L’Observateur runs the half-page, front-page headline: “Hillary Clinton Will
Urge More Efforts to Combat Sexual Violence.” Noting that the U.S.
Government is deeply concerned about sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)
in the DRC, the paper says that Secretary Clinton will highlight U.S.
commitment to helping the Congolese government fight SGBV, and will urge
MONUC to play a more active role in the effort. According to L’Observateur,
Clinton will also encourage DRC Government efforts aimed at consolidating
democracy, eradicating corruption, and implementing sound economic and
budget policies. The paper says that the DRC Government might seek U.S.
support to secure an IMF poverty reduction and growth facility loan in
coming days.

Focusing on the reasons behind Secretary Clinton’s Africa visit, La
Prosperite comments that the choice of countries demonstrates that the tour
is motivated by business concerns, even though “the Obama administration
denies being concerned about China’s increasing influence across the
continent.” The paper says that Secretary Clinton will develop new ties to
regional economic powers such as South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, and the DRC,
as part of a visit that will begin in Nairobi “to alleviate Kenyans’
disappointment,” that the American president delivered his historic address
to Africa from Ghana. Clinton is also expected make her trademark visits to
students, women, and hospital staff, reports La Prosperite.

The independent Le Climat Tempere carries a front-page article titled “An
American in the Congo: Strategic Partnership.” It echoes the widespread
perception that the U.S. was one of the chief instigators behind the Congo
War while hailing a shift in U.S. foreign policy toward the DRC. According
to the article, the U.S. no longer needs to use Rwanda and Uganda as proxies
to protect its interests in the DRC, and the Rwandan Government has
difficulty accepting this new U.S. approach. The Obama administration
“rejects the logics of war,” as it understands “there are no military
solutions to Africa’s problems,” comments the paper. Le Climat Tempere also
runs an editorial arguing that the U.S. is attempting to regain ground it
lost in Central Africa to other powers, including China, over the years
“because of its arrogance and its warmongering.” On the other hand, the
paper urges the DRC Government to present a clear strategic agenda and
demonstrate its ability to govern and defend the Congolese territory in
order to counter attempts to Balkanize it by “those who believe that its
central geographical position and large size are an obstacle to global good
governance.” The weekly newspaper was launched in February of this year by
veteran journalists who want to report news with an independent perspective.

SMS action for drug stockouts; Photo montage of Congolese women's hairstyles; Why more women should

2009-08-04T11:07:47Z

1. Mobiles Help Put a Stop to Drug Stock-outs
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/169416/mobiles_help_put_a_stop_to_drug_stockouts.html

2. Perhaps it could be called 'Congo chic'
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/africa/090330/perhaps-it-could-be-called-congo-chic

3. Why more young women should start using IUDs.
http://www.slate.com/id/2223840

Science Blogs post about malaria's jump from chimps to humans

2009-08-04T08:31:24Z

"One jump from chimps to humans - the origin of malaria"

Local Kinshasa press summary 7/30/09

2009-07-31T07:20:13Z

Local Kinshasa Press Summary 7/30/2009

Secretary of State Visit

Secretary Clinton’s imminent visit made the front page of the pro-government
Le Palmares. Under the main headline “Here are the Secrets Behind Hillary
Clinton’s DRC Trip,” the newspaper continues its tabloid-like coverage of
serious political issues. Despite the fact that no meeting between
Secretary Clinton and President Kabila has been announced, Le Palmares
expects it will be “decisive.” And the paper claims that American policy
toward the DRC has completely changed with the Obama Administration. “After
several attempts to divide and destroy the Congolese nation, all these
international stratagems have only shown that the Congolese giant refuses to
disappear. Finally, in Washington, they understand.”

Citing their erroneous publication in May of an article claiming to detail
the conversation between UN Ambassador Susan Rice and President Kabila, Le
Palmares says, “The day after that meeting, many things began to change
between Kinshasa and Washington.” The paper sees a change in U.S. policy as
it moves away from former allies Rwanda and Uganda, and toward the DRC.
While this perception is not based on facts, it does resonate in certain
quarters of the press and public in Kinshasa.

Violence in the East

Le Potential focuses on Operation Umoja Wetu II, saying it “smells like a
trap.” The front page headline is accompanied by a cartoon showing Rwandan
President Paul Kagame standing at the DRC border, wielding an RPG and
telling MONUC and FARDC soldiers: “Let me help you, I know how to fight the
FDLR. And I have new passports for each of you.” In addition to the
jump-page article, there is also a front page editorial on the latest
MONUC-FARDC efforts against the FLDR. The editorial lays the blame for
violence in Eastern Congo at the feet of Rwanda and the West: “Peace will
not be restored so long as things remain the same in the neighboring state.
Western powers refuse to involve themselves in an inter-Rwandan dialogue
that might bring peace. ‘If there needs to be an inter-Rwandan dialogue,
that’s for Rwandans to decide,’ is what Western diplomats invariably say in
Kinshasa.”

LRA

La Reference Plus reports that a coalition of DRC and Ugandan soldiers
launched a series of attacks on LRA positions in Dungu, Orientale Province,
on July 22-25, killing 23 rebels and dislodging others from neighboring
villages. The article, taken from Radio Okapi’s website, suggests that LRA’s
capability to harm has been greatly reduced as a consequence.

SGBV

L’Avenir runs a half-page, front-page headline: “Sexual Violence: 10 FARDC
Soldiers Get Heavy Sentences.” Although sentenced soldiers include
rank-and-file as well as officers, the paper says that the Government’s
effort to end gender-based violence committed by FARDC troops should be
become a tangible, lasting commitment. MONUC said that this effort should be
supported at the highest level of the DRC government. Le Palmares echoes
MONUC’s call, noting, however, that the UN mission considers the conviction
of these soldiers a sign of progress in the fight against impunity.

Pro-Justice

Le Phare, La Tempete des Tropiques, and Forum des As report on the launching
of USAID-funded “Projustice,” a program aimed at supporting the
establishment of new judicial institutions and promoting judicial
transparency in the DRC. Under this program, civil society’s
justice-oriented projects will be funded at with $210,000 in Kinshasa and in
other cities.

New Sleeping Sickness combination showing positive results

2009-07-13T17:48:29Z

Clinical trials in the Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo have reached Phase III in a search to develop an effective and non-toxic cure for sleeping sickness, or trypanosomiasis.

I spoke with Rose Hoban last week, who told me that there has been a successful negotiation with drug company Sanofi to convince them to produce enough of one of the drugs in the combination to make it available for the trial and hopefully to people suffering from the disease in the future. More info here.

Sleeping sickness is one of many diseases categorized these days as "neglected and forgotten diseases," those that aren't currently sexy and don't have their own funds named after them. They affect hundreds of thousands of people a year, but usually there is no incentive for drug companies to produce the cures. Hopefully the results of this clinical trial will lead not only to protocol changes in national health programs but also to availability of the required drugs.

New Drug Combo Highly Effective Against Sleeping Sickness
By Rose Hoban
Durham, North Carolina
09 July 2009

African sleeping sickness is almost a joke in the West. Films depict explorers being bitten by the tsetse fly and then falling into a slumber. But sleeping sickness, or Human African trypanosomiasis, is no joke to the hundreds of thousands of people it affects annually.

Dr. Gerardo Priotto explains that when the tsetse fly bites, it transmits a parasite into the blood, which, if left untreated, eventually makes its way to the brain.

"And when this happens, there are a series of neurological signs and symptoms that progress, and they show this sleepiness that gives the name to sleeping sickness," he explains.

"But also it will progress into severe mental confusion and coma and death, and it will eventually kill all of the persons that are infected by the parasite."

[Follow link for rest of article, link to Lancet publication, and audio report.]

Humanitarian Mad Libs.

2009-06-05T16:39:24Z

Ganked from ticklethepear .

Humanitarian Mad Libs (fill in the blanks)

Yet again, bad times in _____ (country). Surprise, surprise. Given that _____ (number between five and ten) previous peace deals have fallen through, perhaps it was naive to assume that the _____ (name of random, medium-sized city in random third-world country) Agreements would hold.

(Then again, UN mediators and peace-building experts need work, too.)

In the meantime, renewed fighting between the _____ (four-letter acronym of rebel / insurgent group - extra point if it's MILF) and government forces threaten to push an already-precarious humanitarian situation over the edge.

In just the past _____ (number between one and four) weeks, as many as _____ (number between 500 and 5,000) civilians have been killed; another _____ (number between 50,000 and 500,000) people have fled their homes.

A UN spokesman in _____ (country) has described the situation as a "humanitarian _____ (catastrophe / crisis / disaster / shit-storm)". According to an aid worker with _____ (three or four letter NGO acronym):

"The camps are overwhelmed; the situation is even worse for those caught in the _____ (bush, inaccessible geographic feature, "no fire zone"). We're hearing that people have already started dying of _____ (cholera, hunger, thirst)."

Another aid worker added:

"The _____ (government forces, rebels, government and rebels) are shooting at anyone that tries to flee the area. We're seeing more and more civilians with _____ (gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds, massive psychological trauma). It's a _____ (bloodbath / massacre / slaughter / shit-storm)."

The government has denied firing on civilians. According to a government spokesman: "These are our people, we are doing everything we can to save them."

Being ever-mindful of their public image, the rebels have also strenuously denied using civilians as human shields.

Those who have made it to the camps tell a different story. _____ (man's name - preferably African, Asian or Muslim), a _____ (carpenter, farmer, shopkeeper, taxi-driver) from _____ (name of completely insignificant village) reported seeing _____ (number between 5 and 10) bodies laying on the road as he fled.

"They are shooting everyone," he said. "The _____ (government, rebels) killed my _____ (family member) last week. It took us _____ (number between 1 and 5) days to reach the camp. My _____ (family member) is now very ill."

Another facet of the disaster

2009-05-18T20:58:11Z

There is so much bad news in eastern DRC that I can't even keep up with it, and it's demoralizing to think about posting everything that I read. But this short article from the Atlantic shows a (perhaps simplified but relevant) causal relationship that is yet another negative manifestation of the conflict.

Here's how it works: Soldiers / rebel militia kill hippos --> hippo defecation reduced --> food supply (hippo shit) for plankton/larvae reduced --> fish food supply (plankton/larvae) reduced --> fish reduced --> fishermen permitted to fish reduced --> people can't eat. This is complicated by the fact that more refugees have settled in this area, and by the fact that European environmentalists have calculated the number of fishermen that should legally be allowed to fish based on the fish supply.

Results - fewer hippos, fewer fish, more arrests, and not many people are eating.

Final quote:

The environmental activist fires questions at the two, demanding to know why they were fishing without licenses.

“Because,” the wiry man says, “we were hungry.”

May 18 Kinshasa front page news

2009-05-18T14:01:19Z

L’Avenir (pro-government), article, front page , “DRC Infiltrated, Joseph Kabila must Clean Up the Intelligence Agency.“

On May 15, Radio France Internationale (RFI) journalist Ghislaine Dupont disclosed an internal document of the DRC National Intelligence Agency (ANR) in an apparent attempt to discredit the chief of Domestic Security. The document provides information on corrupt ANR agents and release of some prisoners held by ANR. Infighting within the ANR is used to feed an ongoing conspiracy against the DRC institutions. Many people have infiltrated the ANR, which calls into question the ANR’s loyalty toward the GDRC. Those who use international media to damage the reputation of a rival not only weaken an individual, they also undermine the whole country as well as the institutions that depend on the ANR’s performance. The lingering question remains: who is manipulating whom-- RFI or the National Intelligence Agency?

Le Potentiel, (independent), editorial, front page, “Military and Intelligence Service Reform.“

Reforming the armed forces and the intelligence service is a priority, considering the Government’s need to restore peace and stability to the DRC’s troubled regions. During his visit to Kinshasa, AFRICOM Commander General Ward insisted on the need for reforming the Congolese army and for forming professional and efficient armed forces. He indicated that AFRICOM is ready to help the DRC reach these objectives. In the same spirit, the DRC foreign minister recently stressed that there is no viable State without strong armed forces and an effective intelligence service. The success of any military operation is contingent on covert and diligent intelligence gathering as well as on the effective processing and transmission of such intelligence. Future reforms should provide strict recruitment criteria to avert manipulation and leaks that may benefit enemies. Reforming the military and intelligence sectors is a major component in any national security strategy.

Compiled by John Kalonji, PD Section.

Cedric Kalonji's vignettes on religion in Kinshasa and the East

2009-05-13T16:37:47Z

These entries are in French (sorry) but provide interesting observations on religion in present-day DR Congo. Click for photos.

1.Kinshasa : Commerce de prières et des bénédictions divines de plus en plus fructueux

Observations on pastors providing the word of God and benedictions for a donation, but without much success. The more "men of God" selling their word, the fewer buyers will be available.

2. La bible, arme congolaise pour arrêter la guerre

Soldier-Pastor Rams using the word of God to influence citizens to believe and pray, to prepare them for eternal life, and to pave the way for peace.

Cedric Kalonji's comment: "Ils sont déjà nombreux à choisir la prière à la place du travail ou des médicaments lorsqu’ils sont malades. Et lorsqu’un soldat soutient haut et fort qu’il vaut mieux prier plutôt que défendre sa patrie, ça fait froid dans le dos..."

["There are already many that choose prayer in the place of work or medicine when they are sick. And when a soldier argues loudly that it is better to pray rather than defend his homeland, it sends shivers down your spine..."]

ETA: 3. Lutte contre le VIH-SIDA, à chacun sa thérapie.

People turning to prayer and miracle cures for HIV.

"Problème : les discours des pasteurs ont visiblement plus d’écho que les campagnes de sensibilisation et de prévention contre le VIH. La population congolaise ayant perdu foi en ses gouvernants se tourne vers Dieu et la prière. L’utilisation du préservatif étant considérée comme un péché par les églises et le miracle comme solution pour les malades, le sida a encore de beaux jours chez nous."

["Problem: the speech of pastors have visibly more resonance than awareness-raising and HIV prevention campaigns. The Congolese people, having lost faith in their leaders, are turning to God and prayer. With the use of condoms being seen as a sin by the church, and a miracle as the solution for patients, AIDS will still have sunny days with us."]

Why are Somali pirates pirating?

2009-04-14T19:24:06Z

Nuclear and heavy metal dumping, causing sickness in coastal populations
Looting and overexploitation of seafood/marine life
No intervention by local government (well, nonexistent government)

Links so you can read more:
From "Africa is a Country" : K'naan on the truth about Somali pirates (video); What the media’s not telling us about Somali pirates
From The Unapologetic Mexican: Spirit of the Resistance in Somalia
From The Huffington Post:

Follow up on some African news stories I've been following sporadically

2009-04-06T18:55:19Z

Militants in Nigeria's Niger Delta region have kidnapped a Scottish oil worker and killed his police guard.

[Take a look at the site for Sweet Crude, a film that discusses the other side of Niger Delta militancy. MEND tried non-violent opposition for years but Shell is still trying to force residents off their land.]

Also this:
Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua has said his government is considering granting amnesty to violent groups in the Niger Delta if they disarm. But "The most visible group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), said they would not give up their arms because of "a mere verbal statement" from the president."

Accountability for facilitating torture?

2009-04-06T17:01:14Z

I'm currently reading Philippe Sands' Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values, which I took out of the library after hearing him interviewed on NPR. I've only read the first chapter or two, but already Sands has set up the case that certain individuals within the Bush Administration are guilty not only of having allowed torture, but of having orchestrated it. The initial discussion is of the Geneva Conventions, and I wrote down this paragraph from the first chapter.

Indeed, any act on a detainee that amounted to torture, inhuman treatment, or that caused great suffering or serious injury to body or helath was considered to be so serious that it would be treated as a "grave breach" of Geneva. The person who violates COmmon Article 3 is an international outlaw, liable to prosecution in many parts of the world. There are no exceptions to the customary rule reflected in Common Article 3, not even necessity or national security (Torture Team, p9).

Now, Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals, has written a piece in the New Yorker, discussing Sands' assertion that Donald Feith, the former Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer; and David Addington, the chief of staff and the principal legal adviser to Vice-President Dick Cheney had violated the Geneva Conventions and should be arrested on international charges of torture. The conclusion is that while Sands' assertion may have seemed wild a year ago, it no longer does, now that a Spanish court has taken steps toward an investigation. During the NPR interview, Sands said that even if the US does not comply with extradition of these people, the current administration will be called to initiate its own investigation, a point that Mayer also makes.

The Bush Six
by Jane Mayer

About a year ago, a book came out in England that made a fascinating prediction: at some point in the future, the author wrote, six top officials in the Bush Administration would get a tap on the shoulder announcing that they were being arrested on international charges of torture.

If the prediction seemed improbable, the background of the book’s author was even more so. Philippe Sands is neither a journalist nor an American but a law professor and a certified Queen’s Counsel (the kind of barrister who on occasion wears a powdered horsehair wig) who works at the same law practice as Cherie Blair. Sands’s book, “Torture Team,” offers a scathing critique of officials in the Bush Administration, accusing them of complicity in acts of torture. When the book appeared, some scoffed. Douglas Feith, a former Pentagon official, dismissed Sands as “a British lawyer” who “wrote an extremely dishonest book.”

Last week, Sands’s accusations suddenly did not seem so outlandish. A Spanish court took the first steps toward starting a criminal investigation of the same six former Bush Administration officials he had named, weighing charges that they had enabled and abetted torture by justifying the abuse of terrorism suspects. Among those whom the court singled out was Feith, the former Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy, along with former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; John Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer; and David Addington, the chief of staff and the principal legal adviser to Vice-President Dick Cheney.

In Washington the other night, over a cup of camomile tea, Sands described the behind-the-scenes role he played in spurring the Spanish court to action. He paced his hotel room, seeming by turns proud and stunned at what he had done. “This is the end of these people’s professional reputations!” he said. “This is no joke. We’re talking about the serious potential deprivation of liberty.”

Sands said that he had “no personal vendetta” against the Bush Administration, but he does see a link between his family history and his chosen profession. His mother and her parents were Viennese Jews who barely survived the Holocaust; his mother spent the first seven years of her life in hiding, away from her family. “It inculcated a burning sense of being aggrieved at wrongdoing, and at the failure of people to take responsibility for their actions,” Sands said.

Sands got his first chance to demonstrate his convictions professionally in 1998. He was in Paris, for the unveiling of his grandfather’s gravestone, when he received a call asking him to represent Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator. He told his wife, Natalia Schiffrin, about the offer. “Philippe, if you do,” Sands recalls her saying, “I will divorce you!” (She is American, and the daughter of the book publisher André Schiffrin, a founder of Students for a Democratic Society.) Sands declined the case. Instead, he signed on to represent the other side, and helped pursue Pinochet for violations of international law. The case became a turning point in international law, establishing the principle that there is no immunity even for the highest-ranking former government officials when they are accused of torture. Pinochet spent some sixteen months under house arrest. A decade later, the same Spanish judge who initiated the legal proceedings against Pinochet, Baltasar Garzón, has been assigned to the case against the Bush Administration officials.

The current torture case began in the spring of 2004, when photographs of abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib surfaced. Sands said that he read the protestations of innocence from Bush Administration officials, who blamed a few “bad apples” for the incidents, with the eye of a barrister. He recalled, “I could spot right away that they were speaking as advocates of a cause. So I decided to find out what really happened.” While keeping up his busy law practice, he travelled to America to interview the key players in what he described as “a writing project I am engaged in on international law and the war on terror.” Many Bush officials, including Feith and William J. Haynes II, the former Pentagon general counsel, who was also named in the Spanish lawsuit, agreed to meet with Sands, perhaps expecting a friendly chat. “I spent two years trekking around the country, finding out that they were manifestly untruthful,” Sands said. “I’ve got a particular bugbear about lawyers,” he added. “If not for lawyers, none of these abuses would have ever occurred.”

As Sands went about his research, he conferred with human-rights experts all over Europe on his findings. Word spread that he had the makings of a high-level war-crimes case. Sands won’t reveal exactly which human-rights authorities he consulted. But, in recent months, one of them was Gonzalo Boye, the Chilean-born Spanish lawyer who last week filed the criminal complaint against the Bush officials, on behalf of five former prisoners who were, they allege, tortured in the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay. Boye said last week of Sands, “Let me just say that he played a very big role in my thinking. His book showed me who the targets were.” Feith, reached on the phone, called Sands’s book “wildly inaccurate.” He said, “It’s not a happy thing for the Spanish Court to think of prosecuting Americans for advice they gave to the President of the United States!”

It is hard to predict what will happen next, but, if arrest warrants are issued, the Obama Administration may be forced either to extradite the former officials or to start its own investigation. Sands, who admires Obama, said, “I regret that I have added to his in-box when he has so much else to sort out. But I hope he does the right thing. There’s not much dispute anymore: torture happened, and the law is clear—torture must be punished.”

Meanwhile, Sands reiterated a warning that he made in his book. “If I were they,” he said, referring to the former officials in question, “I would think carefully before setting foot outside the United States. They are now, and forever in the future, at risk of arrest. Until this is sorted out, they are in their own legal black hole.” ♦

Bonobos dying of flu

2009-04-06T16:04:00Z

A MYSTERIOUS flu-like disease is sweeping through the imperilled bonobo apes in their last havens in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Six of the rare primates have died in the past month and another 10 have fallen seriously ill at a sanctuary close to the capital, Kinshasa. With chimpanzees, they are mankind’s closest living relatives.

Vanessa Woods, a researcher at Lola Ya Bonobo, said it was heartbreaking to watch. “It starts with a cough and then they get bunged up with mucus which runs down their faces. They end up lying on their stomachs because it’s the only way they can breathe,” she said.

“When they get really bad they disappear into the forest, fall down and there’s no way we can find them.”

The sanctuary was home to 60 of the endangered apes before the disease struck. Most had been found as babies after their parents were killed for bush meat.

This year the sanctuary lost one of its major donors because of the financial crisis, and there is little money for food, medicine or tests that might explain the cause of the illness.

Staff believe the outbreak is linked to a flu epidemic that swept through Kinshasa earlier this year. For now all they can do is feed the bonobos tea, just like human patients, and hope for the best. “We watched them grow up,” said Woods. “One of them, Lodja, reminded me of my niece, so to watch her clench up and die was awful.”

Last week volunteers cradled three-year-old bonobo Masisi and fed him sips of tea laced with honey and lemon from a cup.

Bonobos live in cooperative, peaceful groups, unlike chimpanzees which display a streak of violence, and scientists believe they may hold the key to understanding how human societies evolved.

About 10,000 bonobos are thought to exist in the wild although no one knows for sure. They live only in the war-torn Congo, where their habitat is under threat.

Paula Kahumbu, chief executive of WildlifeDirect, which runs an online conservation community, said the sanctuary was £22,000 in the red: “We desperately need donations to keep these bonobos alive.”

www.friendsofbonobos.org

Has anyone read Africa's World War?

2009-04-06T04:01:59Z

Another book about DR Congo and the Great Lakes region has come out. Read Gettleman's review in the NYTimes of Gerard Prunier's AFRICA’S WORLD WAR: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe.