Eye on Africa

**Photo Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — Displaced family at the Tchomia Internally Displaced Persons’ Camp, Ituri

****Photo Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — Panzi Hospital, South Kivu

Today I joined John Prendergast of the Enough Project on the Diane Rehm Show for a discussion of the crisis in Congo.

Listen to the program.

***Photo Mvemba Phezo Dizolele – Air Serv Plane at Ndolo Airport

***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 – Panzi Hospital, Bukavu, Sud Kivu

****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.

****Photo Jeca Taudte — Coltan Processing, Bukavu, South Kivu

Bukavu is perched high above Lake Kivu, gently encroaching on the placid body of water between Rwanda and Congo. Once known as the pearl of Congo because of its beautiful climate and mountains, the Bukavu I found last summer barely resembles the famed city I heard about as a child.

In the past ten years, South Kivu province and its capital city of Bukavu have been known for two things: insecurity and coltan. I came for both. In anticipation of the country’s first multiparty elections in four decades, I wanted to understand the potential effect of insecurity on the elections and learn first-hand the role minerals such as coltan play in fueling insecurity.

Four times the size of France, and as big as the United States east of the Mississippi river, Congo holds 80 percent of the world’s reserves of coltan, a heat-resistant mineral ore widely used in cellular phones, laptop computers and video games. The ore derives its name from a contraction of columbium-tantalite, the scientific nomenclature.

****Photo Mvemba Phezo Dizolele — Tubimbi Market Place, South Kivu

Once the breadbasket of South Kivu, Tubimbi is now just another starving outpost.

***Photo Mvemba Phezo Dizolele. Coltan miners, South Kivu

In an opinion piece published in The Boston Globe on Deember 22, author John le Carré and International Crisis Group’s analyst Jason Stearns wrote:

"The World Bank sees the mining sector as the driving force behind Congo’s economy. It has helped publish a new mining code, has commissioned several audits of the largest state mining company, and has given $45 million to retire 10,000 state mining workers. The theory is that Congo needs to privatize its stagnant state mining companies in order to revive the industry. Once the mines are up to speed again, the state should be able to make ample revenue through taxing exports and profits.

***Photo Mvemba Phezo Dizolele. Coltan and Cassiterite miners in Mushangi, South Kivu.

Events in war-torn Congo may seem remote, but they are no further than your cellphone or DVD player. Eastern Congo supplies 80% of the world’s coltan, a mineral essential to electronic goods. Last summer I traveled to the mines of South Kivu to see who has benefited from the coltan trade and who has paid the price. Watch the film