Africabeat

Congo: 'Fifth plane crash in five years, rising food prices the real disaster'

I received an email a few hours ago from a friend in Goma who told me the sky was literally falling.  Did my little futile bit, and translated a post by Cabiau, a Belgian aid worker living in Kinshasa, who has had a lot in the past about Congo's proclivity for plane crashes.  This is the fifth fatal crash since June 2007.

He says--and rightly so--that it takes a photogenic disaster to attract the attention of the Western media; the coverage of this accident is a flash of light on a place that otherwise exists in darkness.  I don't use the word "darkness" in the Joseph Conrad sense, but rather in the sense that if you were to ask most relatively well-educated Westerners what the deadliest conflict was since World War II, I think many (or at least the Americans) would answer, "the Vietnam War."  The International Rescue Committee estimates the death toll of the Second Congo War (1998-2003ish) is 5.4 million.

But it's not the plane crashes we should worry about.  Cabiau writes that skyrocketing food prices are the real disaster looming.

Read the post at Global Voices

Louis Michel Heckled by Congolese Protestors at the London School of Economics

A recent French translation post on GV:

Le renouveau congolais posted [Fr] a YouTube video which shows Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid and formerly Belgian's foreign minister, as he was confronted by Congolese protesters during a talk given earlier this month on the EU and Africa at the London School of Economics.

Keep on readin'

Batwa People of Eastern Congo

The Batwa people were traditionally hunter-gatherers.  In Eastern Congo, they lived off what the forest provided, until prolonged warfare and the creation of national parks ended their way of life.  Neglected by the government, shunned by other ethnic groups, the Batwa live on the margins of Congolese society.  They have no knowledge of agriculture or animal husbandry.  They have never participated in a cash economy.  They live in temporary villages in constant fear of being driven out by real estate developers or the government.  They build their houses out of sticks and leaves and die of things like too much rain.  There are about 3,000 living in the area around Goma.  They want dignity, they want a way to live as others live, but how?  No one can simply give that to them.

In August, I met an American girl in Kigali with a friend named Morgan, a student at the Université de Goma.  On a whim, I went to eastern Congo, ostensibly to climb a volcano and see some gorillas, all  because Morgan knew a guy who knew a guy who could get me a good rate. Morgan also happened to be one of the most extraordinary individuals I've ever met--a law student, an eldest son, the founder of his own NGO, and a good guy to have around the next time Mt. Nyiragongo erupts--and so on a second whim, I made a promise I intend to keep to Morgan and 3,000+ people. Needless to say, I never did get to see the gorillas. 

In a series of posts, learn about the Batwa, the support Morgan's NGO needs to help them, and how I hope to mobilize that support while avoiding all those pitfalls of aid I love to critique, but to which I can offer no easy solutions.

D.R. of Congo: Should Christian Revivalist Churches Be Encouraging Political Activism?

Continuing an age-old debate–is religion the “opium of the people” or can it be a catalyst for social change?–Congolese blogger Blaise Mantoto at UDPS Liege says the Congo’s Christian revivalist churches, which he cynically refers to as “for-profit spiritual shops,”
encourage political disengagement [Fr]. He calls on revivalist churches to rewrite their missions, arguing they should inspire their followers to improve their social and economic situation through political activism.

UDPS Liege is the Belgium-based branch of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, a major Congolese opposition party and a vocal critic of Joseph Kabila, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Revivalist and charismatic churches have become increasingly popular in the Congo–at the expense of Catholic churches–by offering magical and miraculous solutions to the misery and insecurity Congolese have faced for decades. (These churches have also made news for making money off of the cruel exorcisms of child witches.)

But whether or not these churches encourage apathy, not everyone agrees that religion and politics should mix.

Read the rest at Global Voices

Street Children Paid to Attend Election Rallies in the DRC

I was just reading this IRIN article from a few days back which details how children were paid by various political parties in the DRC to attend election rallies, and often ended up getting seriously injured or killed when those rallies turned violent.

I have a hard time deciding whether this is another sinister case of exploitation, rampant in fragile and impoverished socities, that is somewhere along the same lines of using children as soldiers or sex workers.  Clearly paying children to march in a rally is nothing so extreme, and yet it disturbs me that these political parties would take advantage of street children's poverty to swell attendance at rallies, and in the process, put these children into harm's way.

Children pariticpating in a political rally in the Congo: ©  Eddy Isango/IRIN

DRC Elections

Extra Extra and The Salon are two English-language blogs that have been offering really great coverage of election day.  I've also been writing a bit about the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the elections elsewhere:

Global Voices

• DRC: Optimism on Eve of Landmark Election

• DRC: As Elections Approach, the Congo’s Bloggers Discuss Recent Violence, Media Repression and the Limits of Foreign Aid

• DRC Roundup: Elections, Mining Corruption, Peacekeepers & More

• DRC: Coup Attempts and More Questions on the Upcoming Elections

About.com

• The Congo's Historic Election: Between Hope and Cyncism

• Congo Election: Quick Facts

Delving into the Congolese Blogosphere

I wrote my first post on the DRC for Global Voices, and I must say some of the most prolific bloggers I've ever encountered call the Congo home.  Anthony Katombe thinks there are two reasons for this: first, "he who aches the most screams the loudest" and second "The Congolese are more and more aware of their responsibility for the country’s plight."

You can read all about it here, but there are a lot of interesting things happening right now as the Democratic Republic of the Congo prepares for its first post-conflict presidential election.

I'm always looking for good French or English language blogs that cover the Congo, so if you know of any, leave me a comment.

Check out some of the Congo blogs GV has covered in the past: