Global Voices » Fred

D. R. of Congo: Independence Cha Cha

Fred — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:18:39 +0000

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of independence from Belgian rule. As the state proudly wheeled out some expensive new military hardware for the delectation of visiting dignitaries, bloggers Kakaluigi [fr] and Congo Miliki [fr]describe the parades in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, while other Congolese bloggers reminisce about the era of independence and the record since those optimistic times.

Mboka Mosika [fr] interviews Albert Kalonji, considered one of the ‘fathers of Congolese independence' but also a one-time Luba secessionist and a political opponent of Patrice Lumumba. He says, “We can only rejoice over our independence, despite the missed opportunities… like the civil wars which followed and the lack of charisma and amateurism in management of public affairs, for which the political leaders are responsible.”

How should we keep Kinshasa clean? Keep inviting the Belgian King! (Cartoon from CongoBlog; permission granted.)

Banacongo republishes the speeches given by the Belgian king, Joseph Kasa Vubu and Lumumba at the original independence ceremony in 1960 [fr].

VieuxVan thinks the only real progress the ‘villagers' of DRC have seen since then is the mobile phone [fr]. Texas in Africa sees progress in Goma, though, contrary to media depictions of a place where “every Congolese woman is a rape victim and every man is a criminal”:

I've chatted with several old friends and met many new ones here this week, and one common theme in the conversations is frustration that the story of Goma is not being accurately told. As one put it, if you took the media's word for it, you'd think that every Congolese woman is a rape victim and every man is a criminal. That's not the reality here.

What is? Tons of new businesses are opening, eyesores are gone and new buildings have gone up in their place, and factories are being built. And infrastructure has improved more than I believed possible. The main roads in the central city have been paved

The day after the parades, Congoblog's Cedric Kalonji [fr] hails a deserved day off for “the heroes of the 50th anniversary”: the painters, cleaners and other workers who'd worked so hard to spruce up the image of Kinshasa, while street children and street vendors can finally breathe again and return to the city centre. Unfortunately, so can the traffic police, who had been forbidden from harassing drivers: “I know some who are rubbing their hands together”, writes Cedric, “it's going to get hot for drivers.”

D. R. of Congo: The hazards of neglect

Fred — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:07:52 +0000

Congoblog is a marvel. Every post deserves a mention, but here are some of the more arresting posts to have appeared so far in January:

From Kisangani, Boyomais laments the ‘disastrous' conditions in his country's health clinics, where “the order of the day well known to all is: no money, no care”.

by Luba for Congoblog.net

The wife of one patient complains that:

Nous avons du mal à fermer l’œil la nuit tellement il y a des moustiques. Mon mari a des problèmes d’estomac mais, dans ces conditions, il n’est pas surprenant qu’il soit atteint de la malaria dans cet hôpital. Les moustiquaires que nous avons trouvé ne servent plus à rien car il a des trous partout.

There are so many mosquitoes that we can hardly close our eyes at night. My husband has stomach problems but in these conditions, it won't be surprising if he catches malaria in this hospital. The mosquito nets that we found are useless as they're full of holes.

From the capital, Mwana Kin reports on a lethal hazard arising from disrepair:

Au fil des années, les câbles de la SNEL sont sortis de terre et arpentent les rues des principaux quartiers. Les jours de pluie, le mélange explosif entre le non fonctionnement du système d’évacuation des eaux et la présence des câbles dans la rue fait plusieurs victimes.

Over the years, the cables of SNEL [the national electricity company] have come out of the ground and run along the roads of the main residential areas. When it rains, the explosive mix of the lack of drainage and the presence of these cables claims many victims.

As the prospect of elections in 2011 looms, Cédric Kalonji observes that:

La majorité des promesses électorales à la veille du scrutin de 2006 ne sont pas sortis de la boite à discours pour se matérialiser. La population se rend progressivement compte qu’elle a été roulée. Loin d’être dupes, honorables et excellences pensent déjà à la suite. Tous les moyens sont bons pour conserver une place au chaud, à l’abri de tous les tracas auxquels les congolais ordinaires font face au quotidien.

The majority of 2006 electoral promises haven't materialised. The population is realising it's been taken for a ride. Far from being foolish, the ‘honorables and excellencies' are already thinking ahead. No means are off-limits in order to keep a comfortable place, sheltered from all the daily hassles faced by ordinary Congolese.

D.R. of Congo: Streamline architecture in Bukavu and getting by in Kinshasa

Fred — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:50:21 +0000

Kivu Express [Fr] celebrates Bukavu's heritage of architecture from the last days of Art Deco with a series of photographs of buildings around town. They're all slightly mouldy these days, but still remind him of a time when Bukavu was declared “the most beautiful town in Africa”.

Commenting on the post, a resident of Bukavu in the 50s agrees that it was at least one of the most beautiful towns in Congo, and says the photo above gives a strong impression of what it was like back then.

Don and Marsha of Congo Chatter have a detailed post on ‘how things are sold' in Kinshasa. Whether you're looking for a European used car, a Coke bottle full of diesel, a walking stick, a football, a 10 cent bag of drinking water, a hard-boiled egg, a bunk-bed or a full sofa suite, it's all right there on the side of the road:

Wanna buy a used car? There aren't more than 4 or 5 car dealerships in Kinshasa, and not one of these has a used car department of any consequence. Most used cars are sold off of “used car lots” along the side of the road. Here's a used car dealership alongside Mulumba Blvd. — each morning about 50 or 60 cars appear alongside the road — there are occasional lookers and buyers, and then at night all the cars get driven somewhere to be stored overnight. Almost all the used cars here come from Europe, and still have their identifying European country sticker on them — “B” for Belgium; “F” for France; “CH” for Switzerland; “D” for Denmark, etc. Someone buys them in Europe and ships them down here. The process of licensing, registering, reporting sales to the government, sales tax — no clue what happens. But the inventory always changes and cars are being sold from under the trees.

Cédric's [Fr] neighbour's handyman has invented the most cost-effective automatic closing gate you're likely to find anywhere.

Finally, Le Congo C'est Là [Fr] has a handy guide to identifying ‘un vrai Z' in the Diaspora (Z for Zaireois, that is). It seems you're a real Z if, among other things:

you always dress in flashy colours
you keep your D&G label to show its authenticity
you always fly with excess baggage but get angry when asked to pay for it…
…and you always take some Pondu (Cassava leaves) with you, even though it's sold everywhere these days

D.R. of Congo: tough questions abound

Fred — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:28:35 +0000

Prompted by a new peace agreement in eastern Congo, Afriqueen returns to Congo Voices to ask,

After the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the UN Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Why not have a similar Court (in the Congo) that would prosecute all the people involved in the conflict: rebels, rebel leaders, individuals involved in illegal mining etc? The people of Congo can never be compensated for the exploitation of their land, nor all the suffering they have endured. What they need immediately are peace and justice.

The peace agreement in D R Congo received markedly less press coverage than the ongoing crisis in Kenya. In a long article at Eye on Africa, Pascal Kambale draws some interesting comparisons between the role of the West in both countries [Fr]:

Alors que les preuves de corruption du gouvernement Kibaki s’accumulaient et que la petite coterie autour de lui amassait en trois ans plus de richesses illégales que ne l’avait fait celle autour de Moi en 24 ans de pouvoir de ce dernier, l’occident a failli à exercer sur Kibaki le même type des pressions que sur le régime précédent… Ayant survécu aux nombreux scandales de corruption qui ont émaillé son mandat, en partie grâce à la bienveillante indifférence des occidentaux, le président Kibaki doit s’être dit qu’il pouvait aussi impunément manipuler les élections…

[En RDC], à l’organisation International Crisis Group (ICG) qui recommandait au CIAT de faire pression sur le gouvernement de transition pour le pousser à mettre fin aux pratiques de corruption, des diplomates à Kinshasa répondaient que la stabilité des fragiles institutions de transition était une préoccupation plus importante et qu’il fallait surtout éviter de « secouer le bateau » avant les élections de peur de retomber dans la guerre. Une année après les élections, le bateau qu’on voulait éviter de secouer donne l’impression de chavirer dans tous les sens, son pilote incapable de lire les boutons de commande.

While the evidence of Kibaki’s government’s corruption accumulated and the little coterie around him amassed more illegal wealth in three years than Moi’s managed in 24, the West failed to put the same pressure on Kibaki as his predecessor… Having survived numerous corruption scandals, thanks partly to the benign indifference of Westerners, President Kibaki must have told himself that hi could manipulate the elections with the same impunity…

[In DRC], to the International Crisis Group, which recommended that the international community put pressure on the transitional government to end corruption, Kinshasa’s diplomats answered that the stability of fragile transition institutions was the priority, so at all costs ‘don’t rock the boat’ for fear of returning to war. A year after the elections, it looks like that boat looks is keeling over, its pilot unable to read the control panel.

Cedric Kalonji, who we interviewed in November, now has an English version of his blog, thanks to a volunteer translator (NB there is sometimes a delay before the English version appears - look forward to the translation of the latest post, on traffic police). Below a picture of a crumpled bus, he says [Fr En]

Il n’y a même pas à se poser des questions sur les causes de ces accidents tellement elles sont évidentes. Le bus de ce matin bien qu’étant très vieux transportait près de quarante personnes, alors qu’il a une capacité de vingt places. Il faut aussi mentionner le fait qu’au Congo le permis de conduire ne se passe pas mais se vend. Facile donc de retrouver quelqu’un ne sachant pas très bien conduire au volant d’un bus transportant plusieurs personnes.

Je n’ai personnellement jamais passé de test pour obtenir mon permis et en plus, je n’ai pas eu besoin de me déplacer pour aller le chercher. J’ai juste donné de l’argent à un ami qui est allé l’acheter pour moi.

No need to ask why these accidents happen, the reasons are so obvious. This morning, this very antique bus had nearly forty people onboard, while it has a seating capacity of twenty persons only. I must also mention the fact that in Congo, you don’t take a test in order to obtain your driving license, you buy it. It is therefore not uncommon to find someone with very limited driving skills at the wheel of a bus transporting several people.

I personally never took a test to get my driving license and I didn’t even need to go and get one. I just gave some money to a friend who went out and bought it for me.

Du Cabiau à Kinshasa [Fr] posts a dramatic picture of a jack-knifed truck. He says last week there were 20 deaths on the 250km road between Kinshasa and the river port of Matadi. Referring to a new IRC mortality study, which says that Congo’s mortality rate is nearly 60% higher than the sub-Saharan average, he comments,

Derrière ces chiffres que l'on avale chaque matin, autant de drames et de familles déchirées. Il faut parfois prendre une route pour le réaliser…

Behind the statistics that we swallow every morning, there are so many dramas and torn-up families. Sometimes you have to go down a road to realise it…

(There’s something of a pattern emerging here? It's like Theme Time Radio Hour.)

Other recent highlights from the world of Congolese blogs:

Elie catches some poachers and teaches them a lesson they’re unlikely to forget: ‘We confiscated their nets (used for catfish and tilapia), we burnt their boats and spoke with the poachers to increase their awareness regarding the environment and the park after they paid the fine.’

Brian describes fuel shortages in Kisangani:

They are selling 10 litres (about four gallons) at a time, except to their corrupt connections where the gas is being stockpiled for profiteering later on in the crisis… We only have a couple of gas stations and much of the gas in town is sold by resellers. They keep gasoline in barrels or (mostly) small bottles on shelves at the roadside. They’re fairly notorious for stretching their merchandise with other liquids to increase profits. A crisis like this is a boon for some of them who are well connected and can get supply to sell at double or more their cost. The crisis of course also encourages even more secret blends that will make your motor cough, wheeze and seize.

Harper may be responsible for a spike in teenage volunteering interest as, bedridden with malaria in Goma, she gets to meet Ben Affleck. But eager volunteers should take note that last week’s meeting was with Mayi Mayi militia and a group of young soldiers with a “glazed look of submission and rebellion” who “asked for money, my bracelets, a telephone, my hand in marriage, etc.”

Finally, Kaysha unveils a new Sushiraw t-shirt featuring assassinated Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, and, CongoGirl promises to post a new photo every Friday, starting with a picture from Kinshasa’s marché des voleurs of some Kuba cloth from eastern Kasai.

D. R. of Congo: Interview with ‘Best Francophone Blogger' Cédric Kalonji

Fred — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:55:39 +0000

It's always heartening to see a good blog make the leap from a niche audience to wider recognition. The major blog awards can certainly make that happen, or at least seal the deal.

Global Voices readers and editors have been paying special attention to the nominations for Deutsche Welle's Best of Blogs awards (aka ‘The BoBs'), probably because of their relatively global / multilingual scope and the jury's proven willingness to look for new voices rather than established stars. (Not to mention that Global Voices Online was itself a winner in 2005, and co-sponsored this year's awards.)

Those who worried about how few African blogs had been nominated will be applauding the jury's decision to give 2007's Best Blog in French award to Cédric Kalonji, from the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Here is my description of his blog in a round-up for Global Voices in July: ‘Probably the most consistently interesting Congolese blog is kept by Cédric Kalonji, whose photographs and commentary bear humorous but often sorrowful witness to the struggles of ordinary life in Kinshasa, the country's heavily populated, run-down capital.')

On hearing he'd won, Cédric wrote,

Grande joie de voir que mon travail est reconnu sur le plan international et grande fierté de pouvoir parler au nom du grand Congo. Cette reconnaissance me donne encore plus de force, plus d’énergie pour poursuivre cette aventure et même aller encore plus loin.

Great joy to see my work recognised internationally, and big pride to be able to speak in the name of the great Congo. This recognition gives me even more strength, more energy to pursue this adventure and to go even further.

A proud winner - Cédric's blog on the day the awards were announced.

The next day, fellow bloggers Nayembi and I met Cédric for a celebratory lunch of poulet à la moambe, plantains and ngai-ngai in Kintambo, a lively neighbourhood of Kinshasa. We talked about Cédric's double life, his growing readership, corruption, the need for discretion and even the ubiquitous Facebook.

[Quotations have been translated from French, with some reordering for coherence, and links added for illustration.]

Starting out
“I started on the Internet very early. In 1995, at the end of Mobutu's rule, only the government could go online, but I had a friend whose father worked in the Presidency, so I used to go and use their connection. It was very slow! Then after Mobutu's fall, the first cyber cafés began to appear, and more young people started to get interested. But at first they didn't know how to use it to search for information, and mostly looked at pornography.

“I had an idea for a TV show to explain the Internet to beginners, but it didn't work out because the guy in charge preferred to concentrate on music videos instead. Then I proposed something similar to Radio Okapi [Fr] - they called me in and liked my voice, so I got the job and learned about radio there.

“I began blogging about two years ago. A bunch of us started at the same time. It's not the same thing as radio, and for me the subject matter is different, so I don't mix the two. I've a double life, really. That's what's great about blogs - everyone can be a kind of journalist. One of my favourite blogs is kept by a taxi driver in Quebec [Un taxi du nuit - Fr]. He's great, that guy - he eavesdrops on all sorts of strange conversations in his car!

“At first I just wanted a photo album for my friends - I would write something like, ‘I saw a bunch of street-kids on my way to work this morning', and that's it. Then I started to include more commentary. For instance, I would write about every day corruption, like traffic police demanding cash from drivers. But the policeman doesn't do it because he likes corruption, but because he has no choice. He's a father, he has children to feed and send to school, his pay doesn't cover the rent, what is he supposed to do?”

A growing readership
“I started to get feedback from readers asking for more. People in the Diaspora especially seemed to like seeing pictures of their country. My main audience today is still the Congolese Diaspora. I enjoy meeting some of them for a drink when I go to Europe. Then there are other people who have lived in the Congo or want to come here. Not that many Congolese have access to the web here. Many of those that do seem to like forums, where they feel free to say whatever they like.

“I saw the readership stats climbing from 8 visitors a day, to 15, 35, then - ah! 100! When I reached 100, I was really motivated. I said OK, let's make an effort. Having friends doing the same thing also helped. It became like a drug for me. I started getting up in the morning and immediately thinking ‘What shall I post on my blog today?'

“When I was featured in Le Monde [Fr, subscription only] in July, the stats suddenly jumped to 6000, eventually slowing down to around 1000. Yesterday, I had 4000 visits. Lots were from the Best of Blogs website, and also from an article about the awards by Reporters Without Borders. I get a lot of comments. I have a friend who enjoys refreshing the page to see how many minutes it takes for the first comment to appear on a new post. It's a problem actually, because now I want to move to a new blogging system (WordPress - partly so I can add links more easily) and I think it will be difficult to transfer all the comments.”

Photography in the Congo
“Often, my posts start with a photo I have taken. I take my camera everywhere, and I like to look around, noticing and photographing things that other people don't seem to, even fellow journalists. As I'm walking away, I'll immediately start thinking about what to write. I want to capture my mood at first sight of whatever I've just photographed. It's more direct that way.

“Sometimes, though, I have something I want to write about and I'll look for a photo to illustrate it. I don't always ask permission, in fact 85% of my photos I take discretely. It helps that I have a small camera [Cédric's readers paid for it after the first one was stolen], and a press card to get me out of trouble. Sometimes I have to set up a situation in order to get the photo, like buying something from a street vendor so I can hang around. Funnily enough, I don't have a single printed photo after four years of taking them. I've talked to someone here about the possibility of an exhibition, though.

“On the 1st of January this year, I was watching television, and I saw four photos from my blog in an ad! C'est quoi ca?! The guy hadn't even asked. I made him pay and sign a proper contract. It's the principle - I often give photos to people who ask for them, although I did sell a few during the elections.”

Self-censorship
“I don't get involved in politics on my blog. I'm very careful. I rarely cite names, just verifiable facts and my own observations. I know a lot of things that go on, but sometimes I can't talk about them, even though it eats me up inside. People would get upset…”

The future
“I'm proud of what I've achieved. Even if I leave the Congo, my blog will be there, and in ten years people will be able to look at it and see what it was like to live in the Congo in this era. And it's been an interesting time, with last year's elections and all that. But I think I'll be blogging for the rest of my life. What I'd really like to do is to travel around the Congo, blogging from all the different provinces. It's crazy that more people aren't doing it. I've suggested it to a couple of good journalists, and I've also talked to a friend about offering training for people who want to learn. People here still don't know what a blog is.”

And Facebook?
“I'm a huge fan. That's another drug: first thing in the morning, I check to see if I have any new friends - though maybe I wouldn't if there was a woman by my side! Look, I'm a web developer, so I look at the technical side. The work these guys have done, it's simply magnificent. It's a great demonstration of the open source concept. Like Firefox, it's better because so many people are contributing. I don't really worry about privacy - my phone number is even on there. But my profile picture is actually one I took of a park ranger in Bombo-Lumene - he represents me now, like I'm ready to defend myself.”

D. R. of Congo: Trouble in the Kivus

Fred — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:37:35 +0000

This month's round-up from the Democratic Republic of Congo will focus on bloggers in North and South Kivu. Bordering Rwanda and Burundi, these two provinces represent the troubled epicenter of Central Africa’s picturesque Great Lakes region.

For many months now, tension has been inexorably rising, as a dissident general named Laurent Nkunda has refused to integrate his forces into the national army and prepared for war instead. He has positioned himself as the protector of a Tutsi minority threatened by the continued presence of a large group of Rwandan Hutu rebels (the FDLR/Interahamwe, many of whom were implicated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda). Until now, the Congolese army has lacked the resolve and the capacity to take on either group militarily. But clashes have begun, leading to emergency talks between Rwanda and the D R Congo.

On 3 September, Stood in the Congo reported that Nkunda was destroying local power and communication facilities (possibly his people have an independent radio network):

Last night General Nkunda's men destroyed all communication antennas for radios and mobile phones in the Rutshuru and Bunagana area. They also destroyed the hydro-electric station at Rutshuru, taking out the electricity. The towns of Kiwanja and Rutshuru are now cut off from the outside world.

Unfortunately, the rebels have also attacked a rangers’ patrol post in Virunga National Park, taking control of the area, which straddles the border with Rwanda and Uganda.

All three armed groups have long indulged in a variety of criminal pursuits at the expense of the local population, ranging from rape and pillage to trafficking minerals and contraband, including cannabis: (Debout Congolais [Fr] reveals how the FDLR encourages cannabis cultivation by pillaging all the other crops, and both rebels and national army soldiers are involved in trading cannabis for cash or livestock.)

As Cedric Kalonji [Fr]asks :

Plus de dix ans depuis que le Congo a plongé dans une sanglante guerre. Les innocentes victimes se comptent par millions. La plupart de ceux qui ont fait cette guerre jouissent aujourd’hui d’une totale impunité et ont même été récompensés… Où va le Congo mon pays ? Toutes ces tueries s’arrêteront-elles un jour ?

It's than ten years since the Congo was plunged into a bloody war. The innocent victims numbered in the millions. Most of those who fought enjoy today a total impunity and have even been rewarded… Where is the Congo, my country, going? Will all these killings stop one day?

In July, South Kivu mourned the assassination of Serge Maheshe, a reporter for UN-backed Radio Okapi. Now, to make matters worse, a military court in Bukavu has convicted two of his friends of the murder. The author of Kivu Express [Fr] worked with one of them and is plainly convinced of his innocence:

Je ne pourrai jamais croire à sa culpabilité dans cette affaire… La version des faits présentée en cour semble tellement improbable et sans preuves réelles que tout le procès apparaît comme une véritable mascarade. Il semble qu’on veuille trouver rapidement des coupables pour ne pas pointer du doigt les vrais responsables de ce drame.

I could never believe he is guilty… The version of the facts presented in court appeared so unlikely and unsubstantiated that the whole process seemed to be a masquerade. It looks as though they wanted a guilty verdict as quickly as possible so as to avoid pointing the finger at those really responsible.

The troubles of the Kivus seem not to be over for the time being. After a slow build-up, events could unfold rapidly now, with an immediate and long-term impact on politics and livelihoods across the Great Lakes region.

D. R. of Congo: Miracle-peddlars, musical hippos and scary lightbulbs

Fred — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:41:03 +0000

Probably the most consistently interesting Congolese blog is kept by Cédric Kalonji [Fr], whose photographs and commentary bear humorous but often sorrowful witness to the struggles of ordinary life in Kinshasa, the country's heavily populated, run-down capital.

Returning from a recent visit to Europe, Cédric found himself wondering whether the remarkable ability of the Congolese to adapt to hardship might in fact be part of the problem, in troubling times:

Au lieu de se révolter, au lieu de refuser ce qui est anormal, nous cherchons des solutions de dépannage et nous allons tous les jours de plus en plus loin. …Je me demande si le Congo renaîtra un jour de ses cendres. Maintenant il faut faire attention quand on aborde certains sujets. Trop ouvrir sa bouche sur certaines vérités devient dangereux. On risque sa vie.

Instead of revolting, instead of refusing to accept what isn't normal, we go further every day to find makeshift solutions. …I ask myself if Congo will one day be reborn from its ashes. Nowadays one has to be careful about raising certain topics. Saying too much about certain truths is becoming dangerous. One risks one's life.

Perhaps conscious of his growing readership (following an article about him in Le Monde [Fr]), Cédric worries about how he should portray his country:

J’avoue que j’expose le plus souvent de choses qui ne vont pas dans mon pays mais sur ce Blog, je ne fais que parler de ce que je vis personnellement au jour le jour selon mon humeur du jour ou du moment. Je ne vais pas fouiner pour trouver ce qui ne va pas et je ne vais pas vers l’information. Tout ce que j’écris, je le vis moi-même.

I admit that I give more coverage to things that aren’t going well in my country, but on this blog, I only speak of what I see personally from day-to-day, according to my mood at the time. I’m not going to nose around to look for problems and I won't seek information. Everything that I write about, I've seen for myself.

As a case in point, Cédric recently recognised the face of a friend from primary school on a poster promoting ‘a great crusade of evangelism and miraculous recovery’. He notes that his friend inherited the church and the business from his father.

Commenting on this in Congo Connect [Fr], Hélène, a Congolese woman living in Canada, was outraged:

Franchement! Où est passé le discernement chez le peuple congolais ? Pourquoi continue-t-il à croire en ces nombreux escrocs qui se font passer pour des pasteurs et prophètes. Au lieu de prôner l’esprit de l’autosuffisance, ils dépouillent les poches des pauvres gens en échange ils leur promettent des miracles, le travail, le mariage, la richesse, le voyage en Europe…

Really! What has happened to the judgement of the Congolese? Why do they continue to believe in these numerous con-artists that pretend to be priests and prophets? Instead of preaching the spirit of self-sufficiency, they empty the pockets of the poor in exchange for promises of miracles, jobs, marriage, wealth, trips to Europe…

‘One of Africa's most beautiful voices'
Photo courtesy of Atamato (WildlifeDirect)

The indomitable team of Congo Rangers continue to report on their conservation efforts in eastern D R Congo. Atamato reveals how he has named the pods of hippos that he watches after Congo’s greatest musicians. Paulin has posted a series of pictures on his blog, Gorilla Protection, illustrating the threat posed to the forest by charcoal burning. And Ash Vosper shares his diary of a remarkable river journey by motorised pirogue (dugout) through remote areas in search of wild Bonobos:

During the night we came to within a few kilometers of Katopa. They heard the outboard motor coming up river and fled into the forest. How odd! Anyway we came on in the morning and all is calm now. When we arrived and they realized we were “safe” the women broke into song. Apparently they were singing “papa has arrived, the famine is over”. Expectations are a bit high, I’d say.

Like all the villages, they hunt bushmeat and hardly fish at all. And, like in Obenge, traders arrive with goods and depart with bushmeat. I’ve seen one transaction already today!

Lots of hunting dogs here and lots of children. I always forget, in these isolated places there are hardly any old people. People die young.

Have to add this: Just turned on the generator and all the children ran away. They looked really scared. They are still nervous about the lightbulb that came on. Katopa has been isolated for a long time!

We'll finish this tour d’horizon with three contrasting sets of photographs: On Kivu Express [Fr], a Québécois architect called Pierre shows us the beautiful but difficult mountain route between Bukavu, on Lake Kivu, and Uvira, on Lake Tanganika. Back in the big city of Kinshasa, Danny Masson [Fr] is overcome by a colourful opera production and Du Cabiau à Kinshasa documents the banners which announce everything from…

…le dernier “bla-bla” des Nations Unies, le retour au pays d’une idole locale, un rallye de guérisons-miracles ou le nouveau prix du Coca-Cola… quelques mètres de tissu, un peintre, un acrobate et le tour est joué!

…the latest waffle from the UN, the triumphant return of a local idol, a miracle-healing rally or the new price of Coca-Cola… a few metres of cloth, a painter, an acrobat and Bob’s your uncle!

D.R. of Congo: Rhumba stars of today and yesterday

Fred — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:49:22 +0000

As Francois recently observed in Du Cabiau à Kinshasa [Fr], “Music and dance probably share the podium with Jesus among the top reasons for living for a majority of the Congolese people.” For a hint of the obsessive enthusiasm with which Congolese music fans trade gossip about the star musicians and debate their merits, you only have to visit forums such as AfroMix, AfricaAmbience and CongoPage [Fr]. However, despite the massive popularity of Congolese music all over Africa, the blogosphere remains relatively quiet on the subject.

One of the exceptions to that rule is Fally ‘diCaprio’ Ipupa, who began his own blog early last year to help promote his first solo album, Droit Chemin. The album has been hugely successful, but the blog (which is in French and English) sadly hasn't been updated since April’s announcement of a European summer tour. A look through the plentiful comments reveals that the singer is trying to sort out a problem of ‘information piracy’ - perhaps other sites cashing in on the RSS feed? In the meantime, you can see a clip of Fally dancing and singing with Ferre Gola (a singer originally with Werrason, briefly hired by Kofi Olomide, and now leading his own band) via Congo Music Connect [Fr].

Le Congo c’est là introduces readers to Joe Kizi, “a young talent of contemporary Congolese music who is from Lubumbashi. He steers between Soukous, rhumba and RnB”, and links to an interview with the singer on Radio Okapi [Fr] (the nationwide radio station sponsored by the UN and Fondation Hirondelle).

If you prefer the rhumba guitar classics of ‘la belle epoque', top African mp3 blog Benn loxo du taccu has just featured a beautifully lilting track by African Orchestra Fiesta from an album called The Sound of Kinshasa. (Benn loxo author Matt describes it as “gentle, dreamy… and almost Hawaiian”. That’ll be Docteur Nico’s Hawaiian slide guitar, which adorns quite a few Orchestra Fiesta numbers, many of them originally released on the Ngoma label, as celebrated by Excavated Shellac, a music blog specialising in 78rpm nostalgia.)

Finally, bringing us back to the present and shifting to the visual arts, South African ‘blogazine’ Represent has the scoop on Kin-Be-Jozi, “a global intercultural art project” in which “5 artists from Jozi [Johannesberg, South Africa], Bern (Switzerland) and Kinshasa [DR Congo] have collaborated over the last year in exploring different facets of our urban environments.”

D. R. Congo: Park Rangers Attacked, Flying over Katanga, Music meets Social Activism, and Ants 2 - Brian 0

Fred — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:05:46 +0000

My name is Fred. I’ve been keeping a blog called Extra Extra since September 2004, initially from Jaffna, in the north of Sri Lanka, and for the past year-and-a-bit from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. I’m thrilled to have been invited to contribute some coverage for Global Voices of some of the fascinating blogs written in English from or about the Congo.

D. R. Congo is the third-largest country in Africa (after Sudan and Algeria), and has so few roads that people in provincial capitals such as Lubumbashi and Goma have a tendency to describe Kinshasa – some 1500 kilometers away - as another country. Well, I am temporarily back at home in the UK, which often feels like another world entirely. But many of us feel that bridging the gulf between these places is an important task, and happily, expensive air travel is not the only way to do it.

A little over a decade ago, there were just 100,000 fixed line telephones in the DRC, which has an estimated population of 60 million. Nowadays, half the population can get a mobile phone signal, and many millions use pay-as-you-go phones. (This leads us to another form of connection: as Mvemba Dizolele has reported, a high proportion of the coltan and other rare minerals essential for the manufacture of mobile phones and other electronics happen to come from the DRC.)

Access to the internet is gradually improving (World Bank figures suggest there are already over 6 million users), but will remain prohibitively expensive as long as service providers are dependent on satellite connections.

In such a context, it should come as no surprise that there are only a handful of Congolese bloggers. Chatrooms and instant messaging are very popular, however, and with the influence of the Diaspora, it’s easy to imagine that many more young Congolese people will soon be following the footsteps of pioneers like Cedric, perhaps blogging in Lingala, Luba, Kikongo and Swahili as well as French.

Here, then, is the first of my roundups of Congolese blogs in English.

Many readers of Global Voices have already met Atamato, a ranger who helps protect Virunga National Park, a Global Heritage site in Eastern DRC. Unfortunately, his recent fears about the presence of a rebel militia group in the park have proved well-founded, as he reported on Saturday:

At 4h00 this morning Mai Mai rebels attacked the Burusi Patrol Post here in Virunga, leaving one park ranger dead, four critically wounded, as well as kidnapping Officer Monya…

ICCN have deployed two troops of the Advance Force of Congo Rangers to track the attackers, as well as contacting the military authorities of the eighth, based at Butembo. It is feared that the Mai Mai have plans to attack the lowland gorillas as they are now heading towards the Patrol Post of Kalibina, where the gorilla monitoring takes place.

Congo Rangers blog provided this update:

There were a total of 13 people who have been taken hostage, and now they are with the Mai Mai somewhere in the forest. The Burusi Patrol Post was completely ransacked by the Mai Mai; all stock, arms, as well as family possessions, have been taken.

In a comment left on Atamato's blog the following day, Emmanuel from Wildlife Direct confirmed that Kalibina (which is at the top of the mountain) and a third patrol post at Ngai were also attacked. Reuters Alertnet and AFP have picked up the story.

From Kinshasa, Light in the Heart of Darkness reports the launch of Rien Que La Verité, an album featuring 14 Congolese music stars promoting some good ways to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS: Abstinence, Bonne fidelité, Condoms and Dépistage (testing). From the project website (where you can download the music, read the lyrics and find out more about the project and the musicians involved):

According the most recent UNAIDS/WHO report on the global AIDS epidemic, almost two thirds (63%) of all persons infected with HIV in the world are living in sub-Saharan Africa: 24.7 million. An estimated 2.8 million adults and children became infected with HIV in 2006, more than in all other regions of the world combined. The 2.1 million AIDS deaths in sub-Saharan Africa represent 72% of global AIDS deaths.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2005, it’s estimated that as many as one million people — more than 100,000 of them children younger than 14 years — were living with HIV. Nearly 1 million children have been orphaned by AIDS in the D.R. Congo.

Light in the Heart of Darkness declares the concert a success:

With Congo's vibrant music culture, these musicians are national heroes whose voices hold serious weight. Seeing them speak on stage after each of their sets about the importance of dealing with the HIV/AIDS pandemic went far beyond lip service as the Lingala words went bouncing across the stadium filled with thousands. With the laughter bubbling across the stands during the condom demonstration, it was clear that the audience was taking it all in.

Elsewhere, at Journey Outward, a pilot named Andy has posted some enjoyable video footage of a flight over Katanga, in southeastern D. R. Congo, with a Paul Simon soundtrack.

Ants 2 - Brian 0 is the latest score from Kisangani, where Brian (who manages ‘a faith-based microfinance institution') learns not to keep peanuts in his computer bag:

The next morning as I was rushing out the door for work I lifted my bag off the sofa and there were hundreds of ants partying underneath it. I opened the pouch to find that the peanut bag had sprung a leak and thousands of ants poured out of my bag. In a frenzy I emptied everything out (ants pouring out of my cell phone, eating the stamps in my passport) and shook everything out and got to work a little late.

Finally, in case you missed the fun, Fleur d’Afrique recently shared her discovery of some well-dressed Congolese sapeurs on YouTube. (In France, a sapeur-pompier is a fireman, but in D. R. Congo, the word denotes a dandy belonging to the sartorially conspicuous Société des Ambianceurs et Personnes Élégantes.)