Global Voices Online

Elie Smith blogs about the new government in Congo-Brazzavile: “Why it has taken 63 days for Mr Denis Sassou Nguesso to form his government is a mystery, especially that, no major changes has been noticed. While there is no major change of faces, one will note that, the 37 member cabinate has 10 new entries.”

Elie Smith sums up voters' expectations in the presidential elections in the Republic of Congo: “Most voters today said, their main motivation to vote was to consolidate peace and stability and these two aspects, are the greatest achievements of incumbent President Denis Sassou Nguesso.”

Congopage [Fr] announces Dennis Sassou Nguesso's reelection campaign team.  Nguesso has been president of the Republic of Congo (more or less) since 1979.  Readers lament another sham election.

The first BarCamp in Central Africa will take place in Brazzaville on December 23, 2008: “BarCamp Congo is organized by the Committee for the Promotion of Information Technology in Congo (COPTIC), of which I am a member. The committee comprises officials and enterprises of the ICT sector.”

Africa 2.0 [Fr] reports on the launch last week of Akouaba, a news aggregator created by 22 year old Congolese blogger from Verone Mankou from Brazzaville, including an interview with him. Mankou is also the organizer of Barcamp Congo, the first Barcamp in Central Africa that will take place in Brazzaville on December 23rd, and the Barcamp Africa blog has another interview with him about it.

Cellule Francafrique [Fr] reports on a new lawsuit filed against the presidents of Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of the Congo in a court in Paris last week.  The suit, brought by Transparency International and a Gabonese taxpayer, accuses the three heads of state of “concealing misappropriated public funds”.

Congopages announces the death of Ernest Kombo.  Kombo was Bishop of Owando.  He died in France, where he was being treated for cancer.

Congopages writes about local efforts to protect endangered sea turtles [Fr].

Campaigning for health rights in the Republic of Congo: “Indigenous people in all areas of Congo Brazzaville live in precarious conditions and are subjected to discrimination and marginalisation, which prevents them from benefiting from all the rights recognised by international human rights instruments, particularly the right to health care and other interdependent rights.”