fleurdafrique/blog

Ali said I was too cynical and that I needed to be hopeful. For a moment I thought he was right, and that maybe I was just too angry or something. But seriously now: does all this seem normal and democratic to you? I know we tend to do things in unusual ways in Congo, but they’re about to take this too far. Should I sit here and say “well at least we’re having elections”? What’s the point of having them if it’s clear who’s running the show?

Somebody is clearly taking a piss.

eh … so while we’re trying to go there, folks in Kinshasa are sending their families away. I know some people who already bought tickets “just in case”. We’re advised to travel after election day or before the results come out. I actually want to be there for election day. As much as I complain this is actually an event I want to witness. We still haven’t fixed a departure date because eveyone is so unsure. We’ll see.

Oh and there was no Independance day celebrations at Congolese embassies this year (not in Cairo at least).They were ordered to stay keep a low profile to avoid problems. I’m not sure this was respected everywhere though.

4 Comments

1. Black River Eagle said on 13 Jul 2006 at 10:39 am:

   Heck, I thought that you were already there in La Belle Kinshasa. I’d keep a close eye on the news about the violence on the streets though, just in case all hell breaks loose. Things are already beginning to look very ugly, especially the attacks against political opposition protestors and the murder of the Congolese journalist on July 8th by “unknown gunmen”.

   Joe Kabila certainly doesn’t appear to have the national police and troops under control, and the recently arrived EUFOR security forces seem to be standing on the sidelines waiting to see what happens next. What’s the MONUC forces in Kinshasa and elsewhere in the DRC doing to curb these outbreaks of violence? Anything?

   Let’s hope that it all calms down before voting day(s) later this month, but that will depend on the actions of a number of people, both Congolese and international entities.

2. Fred said on 14 Jul 2006 at 10:23 am:

   Hope you’ll fill in my quick election survey.

   Black River Eagle - Relative to expectations, it’s been quiet, so far. I think EUFOR are meant to stand on the sidelines unless they are needed.

3. raskaltrippin said on 29 Jul 2006 at 5:58 pm:

   hey there, figured you’d already left the UK. good luck with your travels. i just did a post on blogging about the elections at dropping knowledge and linked to your post. thought i’d let you know. the url is droppingknowledge.org/thedrop… will look for you on lastfm.

4. pete_s said on 9 Aug 2006 at 4:21 pm:

   Hello Fleur,

   Delighted to have found your blog again after having perdu le fil for a while. I doubt you’ll recall me, but I’m the Irish republican living in France with the rather contrarian opinions about self-determination which you could sum up as “Afrique aux africains”.

   At the risk of offending the sensibilities of those whom I’d refer to as the “right-to-free-speech absolutists”, here’s my 2 cents worth…

   If one looks back over the last few years, there are numerous examples of African governments expelling foreign journalists on a regular basis.

   The problem is that most of the reporters based in Africa are agents of the same western powers that are seeking to expand their influence in Africa without having to give anything in return.

   Do China, Iran or India see the need to send journalists to Africa to cover events there? I wouldn’t say so.

   Yet one can cite numerous examples of successful joint ventures and investments from all three of these countries. Thanks to their investment, many countries in Africa are starting to build up their economies again after a period of 25 years of decline during which western powers contented themselves with promoting “transparency” and “democracy” while watching Africa rot.

   The US/EU have yet to decide whether they want to open their markets to African agriculture. In the meantime; they’re quite happy to plunder African fishing resources, minerals and energy resources.

   But when it comes to opening their borders to allow migration, the answer is “no.”

   Another world is possible…

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