Hey Carl !
As always, Tom's got this one - dead wringer.
I never had this feeling I needed to go back as if I was missing something. Then, after 10 years, I was fairly sick of the joint and it's endless routine.
Don't know if you recall the -ahem- great 1990's opposition leader, Etienne Tshisekedi from Mobutu's days. Basically, a real sour puss around the embassy (when he came out of hiding long enough to hound the Zairian government and ask the Americans for help). He also promised (among other great things) democracy once Mo was gone. "You folks get rid of Mo, and I'll fix this dump"!
You can't run Zaire from K-town without a big stick, and that has never changed.
Even when the Embassy's 'source' (somebody's cook) managed to turn Tom's ground-zero reports ass-backwards, the country was on a downward spiral and most had completely disregarded events in Goma, which would ultimately collapse the country.
15 years later, the fate of the DRC appears to still reside in the east.
Enter Kabila (or better said, Bemba's arch rival). Bemba was my neighbor for years (most impressive having your own .50 nest if front of your main gate).
With his death and his son Joseph now in the hot seat trying to once again run the DRC from K-town, it appears little more than a glimmer of hope, which the naive Congolese thrive on.
Sorry, I believe in Santa, but not democracy in the Congo
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