Gazing in the Congo (DRC): the dark heart of Africa (2006-2017)

[Stan]

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

[Jedburgh]

USIP, 29 Jan 08: Elections in the DRC: The Bemba Surprise

Summary

• The surprising showing of Jean-Pierre Bemba in the 2006 presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has its roots in the histories of both the candidate and his party in the conflict in the DRC.

• However, the space for opposition politics in the DRC is rapidly closing. With weak political institutions in place, the government increasingly relies on strong-handedness at home even as it is looking abroad for financing and infrastructure Development.

• The violence in eastern DRC poses great challenges for the new government but also opportunities for external actors to support peacebuilding efforts by working multilaterally.

• Should President Joseph Kabila’s progressive weakening continue and a leadership vacuum emerge, Bemba would be a strong candidate to fill it.

Complete 16 page report at the link.

[AdamG]

No pre-existing live thread on this locality, so let's kick it off with this happy news.

"Militia fighters in the central Democratic Republic of Congo reportedly decapitated 40 police officers in the deadliest attack on authorities since an insurrection began in the region in August.

Speaker of the Kasai provincial assembly, Francois Kalamba, told Reuters the ambush took place on Friday as police officers drove from the city of Tshikapa in the Kasa District to Kananga, capital of the Lulua province."

https://www.rt.com/news/382291-drc-p...ck-decpitated/

[SWJ Blog]

The Best Defense Is No Offense: Why Cuts to UN Troops in Congo Could Be a Good Thing

Mod's Note

An update on the mission and a very different recommendation, get rid of the expensive ineffective Force Intervention Brigade and worth copying here as the author is an "insider":

Adam Day is the former senior political adviser to the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) and was directly involved in issues discussed in the op-ed.

[davidbfpo]

There is little hope here:

A new conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has seen hundreds killed, a million displaced and the reported recruitment of thousands of child soldiers. The BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga has gained rare access to central Kasai region to report on the crisis, sparked by the killing of a rebel leader last year.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-39587896

[Azor]

There is little hope here:Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-39587896

At least 3 million civilians in the D.R. Congo have been killed since 1996. This death toll is (to date):

• 30X the civilian death toll in Syria
  
• 7.5X the rate of civilian deaths per year in Syria
  
• 49X the civilian death toll in Yugoslavia
  
• 25X the rate of civilian deaths per year in Yugoslavia

Yet which great powers are vying to intervene and stop this mass murder?

[davidbfpo]

From the BBC a reasonably lengthy report on what the UN calls a 'war crime' after:

The UN's Monusco mission said the peacekeepers were attacked by suspected rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in North Kivu province.Five Congolese soldiers also died.

Background:

Monusco is the UN's largest and most expensive peacekeeping operation and has been in operation since 2010. However, earlier this year the UN revealed a plan to cut the number of peacekeepers there from about 19,000 to 3,000.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42285871

A useful map of the armed actors in the Eastern DRC, October 2017:https://kivusecurity.nyc3.digitaloce...Dec%202017.pdf

Background to the organization:https://kivusecurity.org/about/project

I am sure those dead are from Tanzania, which contributed to the 'intervention brigade' and the linked article states:

Nearly 300 peacekeepers have been killed since the UN mission arrived in 1999, according to UN peacekeeping data.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...-congo-attack/

Added as it has more details:https://suluhu.org/2017/12/08/monusc...eping-history/

[SWJ Blog]

Democratic Republic of Congo: A Case of Recurring Obstacles

Entry Excerpt:



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