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April 30th, 2006

   

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DRC: T.I. Petition & Elections Debate

A small portrait of the translator Alice Backer · 20:45 · Sub-Saharan Africa

"Master of the Universe" at Lukalaba market
“Master of the Universe,” a threat to Kabila? By Etienne Ngandu

Today UDPS Liege echoes an AFP article announcing the presidential election will take place July 30. The election was postponed for a year last June and the July 30 date is later than the June 30 deadline mandated by various transitional laws.

Earlier this week blogger Tony Katombe proposed (FR) on Prince du Fleuve du Congo that he and compatriots from the country and abroad petition Transparency International to “investigate the allegations of the implication of Louis Michel, William Lacy Swing, Aldo Ajello and other international officials in the illicit exploitation of mining resources in the Katanga, the Kivu and Kasai… The idea is to bring T.I. to … establish that the conception and orientation of this corrupted system is the making of these western gentlemen who act in the Congo as in a colonial outpost.”

Invited by blogger Philippe Liondjo who runs Le Prince, others, like MuanaCongo, chimed in:

depuis le début de cette transition, nous avons adressé de centaines de mémos aux représentants de la communauté internationale. Cette même communauté a diligenté des études dont les résultats attestent de manière irréfutable et définitive le pillage de notre pays, notamment par le clan Kabila … Si vraiment nous aimons notre pays, soyons réalistes. Le seul acte patriotique qui vaut la peine d'être entrepris aujourd'hui, c'est une révolution soit populaire, soit armée et pourquoi pas une combinaison de deux.

since the beginning of this transition, we have written hundreds of memos to international community representatives. That same community has facilitated studies which attest irrefutably and definitively that our country has been looted, especially by Kabila's clan … If we really love our country, let's be realistic. The only patriotic act that is worth undertaking today is a revolution, either popular or armed or better yet a combination of the two.

(more…)

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The Lebanese Bloggers Last Week: looking outside and building bridges

A small portrait of the translator Mustapha · 11:04 · Middle East & North Africa

Although last week witnessed the seventh Lebanese “National Dialogue” session, Lebanese Bloggers didn’t seem to care. Apparently, many of them are resigned to the sessions being just talk shops. Raja wrote in The Lebanese Bloggers:

I can't even fathom the number of times our “leaders” have decided to leave things the way they were because they could not find it in them to arrive at a consensus regarding how to move forward.

This is why most of the Lebanese bloggers' entries last week dealt with regional matters, like the Iranian Nuclear stalemate, the Dahab Bombings in Egypt, and, the Israeli blogosphere.

But before that, why do Lebanese politics have to always be depressing? Rampurple asked. So she set out to make a list of the “bright side” of Lebanese politics and laboriously squeezed out one. ( for example: “We all had something to discuss during social gatherings” and “All Arab nationals turned into experts of Lebanese politics”). (more…)

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