Global Voices Online

Agathon Raswa on a new campaign website: “New Gatumba campaign website + new online petition calling for justice for the victims and survivors of Gatumba”

Why is Rwanda's membership in the East African Community important to ICT practitioners in the region?: “This is because Rwanda was developing its ICT industry before its regional neighbours had an inkling of the potential and competitive edge ICT gives nations. Rwanda has a knowledge-based economy that is only matched in the region by Mauritius,” argues B.K. Muthoga.

Kakaluigi writes that officials from Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and the DRC met this afternoon in Lubumbashi [fr] to discuss the security situation in the Great Lakes region and posts a photo from the Kaniola massacre.

Bien Au Bout… shares the strange story of children who fled their schools en masse fearing they might be eaten [Fr] by a white man seen wandering in the forests outside their villages. Local rumor had it that Patrice Faye, a French naturalist and collector of endangered snakes with 30 years' experience in Burundi, was a cannibal.

African journalists working in France are calling on the two remaining French presidential candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal, to begin a new chapter in Franco-African relations (Fr), according to the blog of the Alliance for Democratic Progress. “We have to reconsider everything, make a fresh start, a sort of “big bang,” so that France stops treating us like children. Africa must be a partner.” (Fr)

Expat blogger BeneBurundi is learning about local culture (Fr): “Communicating with people from Burundi is all about subtlety and interpretation; for example if you're proposed to and you decline with a ‘no', it is highly possible that what will be heard will be ‘yes, maybe one day if you insist'. Also, in answer to ‘is everything okay?' a ‘yes-yes' would mean there's a problem. “

Agathon Rwasa remembers the victims of the Titanic Express massacre in Burundi.

“But to the Burundians I know, the idea that “peace and reconciliation” could be achieved while killers remain in power is a cruel joke. The difficult, messy truth is that democracy alone is not enough. Only by ensuring that Burundi's war criminals are prosecuted under international law, can we hope to see a permanent end to the violence,” writes Desire-Joseph, whose sister was killed in Burundi six years ago.

White African posts a chart showing IP per capita in the world, “African countries represent the bottom of the chart. Actually, 8 of the bottom 10 are African countries (Madacascar, Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic, Burundi, Malawi, Ethiopia, Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo). That’s not a good thing, but not altogether that surprising either.”