***Photo Mvemba Phezo Dizolele – Air Serv Plane at Ndolo Airport
Air travel is no longer the luxury it used to be. Sluggish security checks, long preflight waiting time and ever-changing requirements make frequent travelers wish for a better alternative. Nowhere in the world, however, do I dread flying more than in my native Congo.
On September 2, a small carrier operated by Air Serv International, a Virginia-based company, crashed in eastern Congo, killing all 17 passengers and crewmembers. Another plane, operated by Kinshasa-based Hewa Bora, crashed in the same area five months ago. It seems that every quarter a plane crashes in Congo.
I was born and grew up in Congo. And during my years living there, I only recall a handful of crashes. They were mostly military aircrafts. Back then a plane crash was an extraordinary event – one that rarely happened. I remember them as vividly as the few eclipses I have witnessed in my lifetime. Today, crashes are common occurrences.
The United States presidential electoral campaign generates as much excitement in Africa as it does in other parts of the world. I just returned from a trip to Ethiopia and Tanzania where the fascination is apparent everywhere. In a sense, Africans feel that they have a stake in this race. They see Barack Obama as one of their own who may get a chance to run the most powerful nation in the world.
Along with Nayan Chanda (YaleGlobal Online Magazine), Martin Klingst (Die Zeit Weekly Newspaper) and Hisham Melhem (Al Arabiya), I joined Judy Woodruff on PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer for a discussion on foreign perspectives on the campaign and the two candidates.
Here is part of the discussion:
RAY SUAREZ: Finally tonight, the foreign fascination with the U.S. presidential contest. Judy Woodruff has the story.
JUDY WOODRUFF: This year’s campaign is grabbing the attention of millions of people overseas. A poll released today by the Pew Research Center, surveying more than 24,000 people in 24 countries, found that many believe the next president may well change U.S. foreign policy for the better and that, just about everywhere, greater numbers express confidence in presidential candidate Barack Obama than in John McCain.
***Photo Mvemba Phezo Dizolele – Kinshasa La Belle
A discussion on Mobutu’s legacy with Bridget Conley-Zilkic of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: With me today is Mvemba Dizolele, who is a writer and journalist. Thank you and welcome to the show.
MVEMBA DIZOLELE: Thank you very much, Bridget, for having me.
BRIDGET CONLEY-ZILKIC: Can you take us back a little bit to the time you mentioned how young, for instance, Mobutu was at his first coup. At that moment, you have Congo coming out of its colonial period. What are the questions that the Congolese people are struggling with? What are the questions that will frame this new country?
MVEMBA DIZOLELE: The big questions of the day in 1960 or before 1960. One is freedom. People want freedom. Enough already, because the Belgians had been here since 1885. So people wanted independence. Remember, it’s after World War II, and some Congolese had fought in World War II. They’ve seen what else is out there. There’s this big movement called the Negritude. A lot of African writers living in Europe, especially in France writing about the black consciousness.
Eldoret, c’est la petite ville du Rift Valley kenyan que le président Daniel Arap Moi choisit pour réunir le 3 juin 2000 ses homologues rwandais Paul Kagame et congolais Laurent-Désiré Kabila autour d’un sommet sur « la situation politique et sécuritaire dans leurs pays respectifs et dans la région des Grands Lacs. » Un communiqué pauvrement écrit et long de quatre petits paragraphes avait des difficultés à cacher le fait que le sommet, convoqué quelques mois seulement après les accords de Lusaka, ne visait aucune initiative diplomatique importante. En fait, nombreux au Kenya ont soupçonné qu’en réalité le président Moi voulait ce sommet pour des besoins de marketing politique personnel.
In the spirit of transparency, which is needed in moving Congo to the next step in its long march to stability and security, a copy of the preliminary findings from MONUC’s special investigation into the Kinshasa events of March 2007, which led Jean-Pierre Bemba into exile, is attached below.
For the past few years, MONUC has played a criticical role in keeping a semblance of order in DRC. This is particularly true for eastern Congo, where only God knows what would have happened had it not been for a strong United Nations military presence.
Despite the many problems that plague peacekeeping operations in DRC — sexual abuses, gun smuggling, mineral trafficking – the blue helmets have done more than just deter the escalation of conflict. The UN has helped run and manage Congo through these tumultuous years.
***Photo Mvemba Phezo Dizolele – Panzi Hospital, Bukavu, Sud Kivu
If you have been to Bukavu, then you have probably heard of Panzi. If you have never been to Bukavu, all the same – you should know about Panzi. Located around 30 to 45 minutes from downtown Bukavu, this suburban is infamous around the world for one reason – the Panzi Hospital.
I heard of Panzi Hospital for the first time in 2004 while I served as a guide and interpreter to a civil society leader from Bukavu visiting in Washington, DC. Her stories were gruesome. She spoke of rape as a weapon of war. Rapes and more rapes. She brought the war to Washington, to the United States Congress, USAID, to the State Department.
Everywhere she went she spoke of the hundreds and thousands of women who have been raped – at gunpoint. Raped by militiamen. Raped by elements of the FARDC, the Congolese army. She cited statistics, the kind that makes one cry. She talked about Panzi Hospital — the place where some of these rape victims, the lucky ones, go for treatment.
****Photo Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — Boys at Kadutu Market in Bukavu, South Kivu
Assassinat de Serge Maheshe : à la douleur, la justice ne doit pas ajouter l’insulte d’un procès bâclé
Par Pascal Kambale
Le Potentiel – Kinshasa
Edition 4114 du Samedi 01 Septembre 2007
Après le ridicule procès de l’assassinat de l’activiste des droits de l’homme Pascal Kabungulu en 2005, Bukavu vient de servir de cadre à un autre procès qui ne fera pas gagner aux magistrats une place enviable dans l’estime des Congolais.
Dans l’affaire de l’assassinat de Serge Maheshe, journaliste de la Radio Okapi, le tribunal militaire de garnison de Bukavu a condamné à mort le 28 août dernier, quatre personnes, Fredy Bisimwa et Mugisho Mastakila, d’une part, Alain Mulimbi et Serge Muhima, d’autre part. Deux couples que tout sépare et qu’absolument rien ne destinait à un sort commun. Alors que Serge Muhima et Alain Mulimbi, deux jeunes gens pourvus d’une solide éducation, étaient les meilleurs amis de Serge Maheshe, personne dans l’entourage de ce dernier ne connaissait Fredy Bisimwa et Mugisho Mastakila, « deux individus visiblement anormaux parce qu’intoxiqués ou drogués » d’après des parents de Serge et Alain. Les deux couples représentaient chacun l’une des deux pistes d’enquête possibles et les magistrats ont choisi la piste la plus invraisemblable, la plus ridicule et la moins crédible.
