CAR Central African Republic: Fragile, failed and forlorn

[jmm99]

As Stan will tell you, I can't pronounce English - or, at least, I have an "odd" accent ! So, perhaps, "mndele" would be a better way to write it - leaving the initial vowel sound up for grabs.

However, since it seems both of us are easily launched on insatiable quests for knowledge (not a bad thing), I've now looked at a couple of Lingala online translators - note that I was using the word in the plural ("a bunch of mindele" and "the mindele colonialists") - and here we go:

translation / dictionary Lingala - English:

mindele
exists as the plural of singular "mondele", "mundele"

mondele, noun, pl. mindele (class 3 / 4 : mo- (mu-) / mi- (objets))
mundele, noun, pl. mindele (class 3 / 4 : mo- (mu-) / mi- (objets)) (kin)

white (white man)
zombie
European-style person
person with light skin color
whale

FREELANG Lingala-English and English-Lingala online dictionary:

Searching for: white (4 results)
white mondele
A white car Motuka ya mpembe
white mpmbe
white? pembe?

and

Searching for: whites (1 results)
whites mindele

So, it seems that both of us are correct.

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KingJaja:

Africa's problems are for Africans to solve. My point is that after the seemingly endless cycle of violence and external intervention - at a certain point, some unstable states will either fall apart permanently or work out an indigenous solution to their teething problems.

CAR for example, has bifurcated - it a essentially a "Christian" enclave in the South and a much smaller "Muslim" enclave in the North. No amount of elections will change that essential reality. And international community is wasting time by impeding the process of formation of two independent separate states in that part of the World.

In my native Nigeria, we are preparing for a National Dialogue, a three month discussion on what different ethnic nationalities want from the Nigerian state. This goes beyond mere elections, Africa's artificial states have flawed foundations and the best way forward is for locals to proactively discuss these challenges and build a state that caters to their needs (not a mere ex-colonial administrative unit).

Yes (we've discussed this before).

But, why didn't you say that from the start - rather than playing the old "big bad colonialists; run, run, the white giants are coming" card ?

That era ended 50 years ago - despite Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - and the modern-day "Rolands" are not from the "Land of the Midnight Sun". It's time that both Africans and Europeans understood that. You and I long ago agreed that the US should not be a major African player.

Regards

Mike

PS: And, there's still the Roland game - animated Zevon !!