Murder of nine United Nations peacekeepers in the DRC

Here is a copy of a February 26, 2005, report by the United Nations Mission for Democratic Republic of Congo (Monuc) about the murder of nine UN peacekeepers in the DRC.

What happened?
During the morning of 25 February, 20 peacekeepers belonging to the Bangladeshi contingent of MONUC, and their UN civilian national staff interpreter, were ambushed 5 kilometers west of Kafe, in the district of Ituri, DRC by one of the armed groups that refused to participate in the international community sponsored Disarmament and Community based Reintegration process. During this ambush, nine MONUC peacekeepers lost their lives.

What were the peacekeepers doing?
The peacekeepers were on a mission to secure the immediate surrounding areas of an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp at Kafe, in order to protect its population of 8000 IDPs against the exactions by militias
of which they were the victims a few weeks before.

What was MONUC's reaction?
The commander of the Ituri Brigade immediately launched a helicopter operation composed of transport and attack helicopters providing air support to two additional platoons of troops engaged in securing the zone in order to evacuate causalities and recover the bodies. Some of these troops were also engaged by fire from remaining militias when arriving on the site. Peacekeepers sustained no additional casualties.

Who is responsible?
MONUC holds responsible for these assassinations the armed groups' political and military leaders, who continue to refuse the disarmament and reintegration process - put in place by the National Commission for Disarmament and Reintegration (CONADER), UNDP, UNICEF, MONUC and other international donors. MONUC calls for their immediate arrest.

Why did they do it?
This premeditated attack comes in the wake of several actions conducted by MONUC (including the arrest of 30 militia members on 24 February) in Ituri aimed at neutralizing the militias who prey on, and terrorize the local population.

What are the next steps?
MONUC is undertaking a series of robust military measures including on-going reinforcement in the area (adding two additional companies and a tactical HQ); intensification of cordon and search operations in the area of the attack; and disarmament actions. MONUC is continuing its activities aimed at neutralizing criminal groups and protecting the civilian population. The Secretary-General has called on the Transitional Government of the DRC to make every effort to find and hold accountable those responsible for this reprehensible and criminal attack.


Photo (Rachel Eklou-Assogbavi/Monuc) Memorial service for the nine deceased peacekeepers in Bunia.

http://www.monuc.org/Story.aspx?storyID=405

Strike over DR Congo poll delay - UN says about 1,000 people are dying every day in DR Congo

According to a report from the BBC today, the UN's humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, says about 1,000 people are dying every day in DR Congo - many from disease and malnutrition.

Alos, a strike has brought the Democratic Republic of Congo capital, Kinshasa, to a standstill, with shops closed and bus drivers not working. The following is an excerpt from the BBC report:

The strike was called to commemorate the deaths of four people killed in protests at hints that elections due in June might be postponed. Pamphlets have been circulated, calling the dead "martyrs of democracy".

A 2002 deal to end five years of war set June as the deadline for elections, while allowing for limited delays. However, elections chief Apollinaire Malu Malu last week indicated the poll will probably take place in October, before heavy rains make parts of the country inaccessible.

But the BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in Kinshasa says that Congolese, who have not elected their leader since independence in 1960, do not want any delay. He says that the strike is reminiscent of attempts by veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi to put pressure on former ruler Mobutu Sese Seko to introduce democratic reforms.

Like in the old days, the government provided free transport to the population in an attempt to break the protest but it has not worked, our correspondent says.

Mr Tshisekedi's party denies calling the strike but those trying to enforce the strike called on people to vote for him.

A five-year civil war in the huge country left nearly three million people dead from hunger and disease.

The war is supposed to have ended in 2002 but fighting has persisted in the east, involving soldiers who were once rebels backed by Rwanda.

Under the peace deal signed by all the main factions at the end of the war, a power-sharing government was tasked with organising elections.

However it does allow for two delays of up to six months each, if approved by parliament.

Logistical problems

In a New Year's Eve address, President Joseph Kabila said he was determined to hold the election this year. "Only credible elections will bring about political stability in our country," he said.

The UN has expressed concerns about the logistics of holding an election in such a large country which lacks basic infrastructure, such as roads and railways.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4175277.stm

Congo wonders about world's priorities

Copied here below is an Associated Press report by Bryan Mealer published in The Washington Times, 9 January, 2005. One line in the article sums up one of the reasons why countries like Uganda and Congo receive less money from the general public than the victims of the Asian tsunami that affected eleven countries. Here's the line:

"No one gives Congo any money, because every time they do, the government just steals it."

As Africa has such a long standing reputation for terrible corruption, it seems (to me anyway) Africa cannot be helped in a meaningful and lasting way until it has leaders who are educated and intelligent. Africa needs proper leaders who can govern competently, fairly and command admiration and respect, not leaders who are thugs stealing power through brute force and murder. When psychos steal countries through the barrel of a gun and then proceed to build armies to rape, kill and starve its people along with stealing their money and natural resources, the rest of the world needs to band together and deliver a way out for such sociopaths who mistakingly believe themselves to be fit to govern. Money can't solve everything.

Here's looking forward to news of Tony Blair's Commission for Africa, and the long awaited publication of the commission's first report due next month.

KINSHASA, Congo — Even now, as thousands of children die each week from drinking dirty water and not having enough food, and the people of once-thriving communities hide like the hunted in the forests, the Congolese expect little from the world's big spenders.

But as Congo watches the global scramble to raise billions in aid for victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami, many here wonder why Asian suffering stirs action while African suffering is greeted largely with apathy.

The New York-based International Rescue Committee says nearly 4 million people have been killed in Congo since the start of war in 1998, most from war-induced disease and starvation. Fighting persists in the county's east — the epicenter of the war — and 1,000 are dying each day, half of them younger than 5.

The Asian tsunami, in comparison, has killed over 150,000. The disaster was a sudden scourge of nature, while Congo's toll has accumulated slowly, at the hands of man.

"Over the last six years, millions of people have died here from this war," said Kudura Kasongo, spokesman for President Joseph Kabila. "In Asia, they're dying too, and getting money. Why is this?"

"In Asia, Westerners are also dying alongside them, perhaps that's why," Mr. Kasongo said.

Led by $810 million from Australia, the victims of the Indian Ocean tragedy have received a total of nearly $4 billion in pledges.

According to the IRC, international humanitarian aid for Congo was $188 million — roughly $3 per person — in 2004.

"Asia's crisis is temporary, but here we have a permanent catastrophe," said Ingele Ifoto, a government minister who recently headed a program to return 32,000 displaced people from Congo's dense northern Equateur province. Many were found roaming naked through the wilds, their clothing rotted off.

On Thursday, British Treasury chief Gordon Brown called on the world's richest nations to contribute an additional $50 billion to the world's poorest countries, particularly in Africa.

The same day, British Prime Minister Tony Blair described the dire humanitarian situation in Africa as "the equivalent of a man-made, preventable tsunami every week."

"Outside of the tsunami areas, I would say Congo is the one area in the world where most people die of neglect and lack of attention and lack of presence of the international community," U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said.

In Congo's hardscrabble capital, Kinshasa, decades of government corruption and broken promises have taught its people a thing or two.

"I'll tell you why no one gives Congo any money," said Ponce Mondano, a mason at a market near the Congo River. "Because every time they do, the government just steals it."

Africa has had its share of the world's sympathy.

In 1984, Live Aid brought significant attention to victims of Ethiopia's famine, and world leaders have recently spoken out on behalf of Sudan's western Darfur region, where ethnic conflict has displaced an estimated 2 million people since early 2003 and killed tens of thousands. The world response to Ethiopia helped prompt long-term improvements in famine-warning and food-reserve systems, international officials say.

The U.S. Agency for International Development spent $54 million on Congo in 2004. The request for 2005 is $32 million. The decline mostly reflects an elimination of food aid.

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20050108-113647-8104r.htm

War fears after Rwanda 'invasion' - first of 5,000 extra UN peacekeepers arrived in DR Congo

Here is a copy in full of BBC report War fears after Rwanda 'invasion' out today, 2 December, 2004. Note how quickly 5,000 UN peacekeepers were deployed - but none for Darfur.

The UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency session to discuss the reported incursion of Rwandan troops into eastern DR Congo.

Rwanda's president has assured the African Union that Rwandan military action in DR Congo will target ethnic Hutu rebels and not Congolese forces.

But there are fears growing insecurity could threaten peace across the region.

Ugandan troops are reported to have deployed troops along their border with DR Congo as a precautionary measure.

UN peacekeepers say they have seen about 100 soldiers they believe are Rwandan.

The Congolese government said 6,000 Rwandan troops had crossed the border and attacked villages.

It has asked the Security Council to condemn Rwanda's action and impose sanctions against Rwanda's President, Paul Kagame.

In a letter to Nigeria's leader, who chairs the African Union, Mr Kagame said he expected his troops to finish their mission in two weeks.

Mr Kagame has not said whether the operation had started.

He sent the letter last week, but its contents have only just been revealed.

The United States and European Union have urged Rwanda and DR Congo to solve their dispute peacefully.

A senior US diplomat, Donald Yamamoto, is travelling to the region in the next few days in an effort to persuade the two sides to solve the crisis peacefully.

Thousands of civilians have been fleeing renewed fighting in the north-east, according to a UN humanitarian agency.

Last week, the UN warned Rwanda not to use military force, saying such a move could undermine international efforts to stabilise the region.

Rwanda has consistently said it is prepared to take military action because of the threat it says is posed by the group which include fighters who took part in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

The Congolese government says Rwanda's action has little to do with any rebel threat but is part of their efforts to dominate and exploit eastern DR Congo economically - as the region is full of valuable minerals such as gold and diamonds.

But the BBC's Mark Doyle, who has just returned from the region, says the wider significance of any Rwandan military action is that it could unravel tentative moves towards peace throughout central Africa.

The DR Congo authorities say they will send more than 6,000 troops to the border area within the next two weeks.

Rwanda has twice invaded its much larger neighbour - in 1996 and 1998 - accusing successive Congolese governments of backing the Hutu rebels.

It withdrew its troops in 2002, under a regional deal to end five years of war in DR Congo, in which some three million people died.

The armies of at least six foreign nations - and countless rebel groups - were embroiled in "Africa's first world war".

Under that deal, the Hutu rebels were supposed to have been disarmed but progress has been slow.

Rwanda says the rebels are now attacking its territory under the noses of the international community.

Last week, the first of 5,000 extra UN peacekeepers arrived in DR Congo.

There are already more than 10,000 UN peacekeepers in DR Congo; troops have been placed on alert and patrols have been despatched to check for any Rwandan incursion.

UN to boost DR Congo peace force by 5,900 troops

BBC report today confirms that UN is to boost DR Congo peace force.

UN Security Council unanimously agreed to expand the UN peacekeeping force in the Congo by 5,900 troops.

A rapid reaction force is expected to be based in the east.

The mandate of the force, currently 10,800-strong, has also been extended until the end of March 2005. Here below is a copy of the rest of the report, for future reference.



UN Security Council has unanimously agreed to expand the UN peacekeeping force in the Congo by 5,900 troops. A rapid reaction force is expected to be based in the east. The mandate of the force, currently 10,800-strong, has also been extended until the end of March 2005.

But the boost in numbers is less than half the amount requested by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Most of the new troops will be deployed to the volatile east of the country, the scene of continuing instability.

After the Security Council's vote, Mr Annan said he still believed a force of 23,900 was the "minimum required to meet the current challenges in the DRC" - a country recovering from five years of war in which some three million people died..

He said he hoped the council "will favourably" consider the full request at a later date.

United States envoy to the UN, Stuart Holliday, had defended the numbers of peacekeepers being deployed.

"We think that keeping the numbers in that range is what's necessary to meet the actual mission task," he said.

Correspondents say the US has not been alone in expressing concern about the growing challenges of UN peacekeeping missions, with cost as much an issue as finding nations willing to contribute forces.

A battalion of some 700 soldiers is expected to be based in the east of the country as a rapid reaction force.

In June, anti-UN protests swept the country after the UN failed to prevent the brief capture of the eastern town of Bukavu by rebels.

Meanwhile, a report says an arms embargo in the east has been violated and is undermining the peace process, reports Reuters news agency.

"Lack of state control in the east of the country means few border controls, no airspace control, and no administrative control," the British parliamentary group report says.

A resident in the eastern town of Goma, where armed groups have recently been vying for control of mines, says more peacekeepers are needed.

"I think it isn't enough because of the problems we have, especially in Kivu province. They should double the troops, even triple them. That would be good for peace," Alan Awasi told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

However, he said the integration of the army need to be speeded up "to reduce the flow of weapons and reduce the possibility of conflict".

Congo troops end refugee protest - Eastern DR Congo is tense

Today, the BBC reports that troops have been deployed in Uvira in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following protests at the return of hundreds of refugees from Burundi. Excerpt:

Barricades set up by the protesters on Friday have been removed and roads have re-opened.

The refugees - who are ethnic Tutsis - are still in Burundi, while officials discuss whether it is safe enough for them to return home.

Some 160 refugees were massacred in the border town of Gatumba last month.

The refugees, who are known as Banyamulenge, had refused an offer to move to camps further inside Burundi, away from Gatumba.

About 350 of them had arrived at the DR Congo-Burundi border, after the Burundi authorities said they wanted to re-open the schools in which they had been staying in time for the beginning of the new academic year.

"They say that since they feel unsafe in Gatumba, they'd prefer to feel unsafe at home, in their own country," said Refugees International's Andrea Lari, who is in Uvira.

"And from the DR Congo government's point of view, they've given an undertaking that they cannot prevent Congolese coming back."

The reasons behind the protests remain unclear.

One possible explanation is that the residents of Uvira resent the idea of returning refugees receiving preferential treatment.

Another is that as ethnic Tutsis, they are distrusted after the offensive launched by dissident troops in June to prevent what they described as the planned massacre of Banyamulenge civilians.

A peace deal intended to end DR Congo's five-year war in which an estimated three million people died was signed in 2002.

But rising tensions in the east of the country have led to fears the fragile peace may begin to unravel.

HERE IS A "VIRTUAL" MEETUP - Today, for Sudan, in the blogosphere

Today, Monday September 6, is monthly International Sudanese Peace Meetup Day.

Meet ups are for people interested in peace for Sudan (and other topics).

You can sign up and get together - in person - with others in your locality. And even start your own Meet up.

Because I am unable to attend a Meet up, I have created a "virtual" Meet up via this post.

Below are links to bloggers - mostly regular reads from my sidebar - who have written about the Sudan.

Here's sending you all a warm hello - and a big thank you for your posts on the Sudan.

See you at the next virtual Meet up here in October :)

Bye for now. With love from Ingrid and Ophelia xx

PS Special thanks to Nick for alerting me to the Meet up date that enabled me to complete this, and the following two posts, in time.
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POEM FOR SUDAN
By Virginia Barros in Portugal

This poem was composed in English by Virginia Barros (blogging under the name of Monalisa) - of Sítio da Saudade - especially for today's Meet Up.

Virginia is a Portuguese blogger who lives in a small town in Portugal. See her beautiful locality in the photo of a bridge - here below. She kindly emailed me this poem for Sudan, in response to my previous post publicising the Sep 6 International Sudanese Peace MeetUp Day. Warm thanks to Virginia for her poem for Sudan:

In my comfortable
And warm room I sleep
I sleep quietly
And you die
Suffering horrors that my brain
Does not obtain to imagine
Because all of us sleep tranquil
And in the same minute
The great pain of the planet
Doesn’t affect us
We pass by lifeless
Indifferent and silently
and we wake up
Thinking to be happy
But the happiness
is spotted of blood and barbarity

Because we let the heartless
Take the world
and we do nothing.


[Photo courtesy of Osterreich Hilft Darfur ORF ]
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SUDAN: INTERNATIONAL MEETUP DAY
Sep 6 Labor Day - Sudan Campaign

Eugene Oregon at Demagogue received this email from Rev. Dr. Keith Roderick of Christian Solidarity International and the Sudan Campaign:

This Labor Day, Monday, September 6, the Sudan Campaign is inviting everyone to take a “day on” rather than a “day off” to protest the ongoing genocide in Sudan. Demonstrations have been held at the Sudan embassy everyday since June 29th, and they will continue. Over 50 persons have offered themselves for arrest by committing non-violent acts of civil disobedience to draw attention to the urgency and seriousness of the issue. Radio personality and activist, Joe Madison, has been a hunger strike for six weeks. In light of the UN findings that the Khartoum regime has not fully complied with the UN mandate issued over 30 days ago, it is time to move to a new level of pressure, economic.

The Sudan Campaign hopes to accomplish 3 goals at the Monday protest:

(1) To thank the Red Cross and other humanitarian aid organizations that have begun massive operations to feed the displaced and starving people of Darfur (celebrating the end to the fast of the Black Eagle, Joseph Madison)

(2) To decry the weakness of the response of the United Nations to the failure of the government of Sudan to comply fully with the mandate given them by the UN thirty days ago

(3) To announce and to launch a bold new strategy of our drive to bring peace to all of the people of the Sudan: Demand that U.S. citizens, their pension funds and their corporations divest themselves of all investments of money in their names in corporations doing business in the Sudan.

Please join us and/or distribute flyers available at the Sudan Campaign and Passion of the Present and encourage others to do the same.
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DOWNLOAD GENOCIDE POSTER AND FACTSHEET
At www.blockstreet and building.com

Please feel free to download Sudan poster and factsheet - courtesy Passion of the Present at www.blockstreet and building.com

PARTNER UP:
Join with others to take creative action and blog about it.

REACH OUT:
Blog about contacting the media and elected officials.

GET LINKED: Join Save Darfur to moblise national action.

GIVE: For a list of aid organisations working in Sudan go to InterAction or DEC UK or download Songs for Sudan album (see link in next post here below)

COME TO: Passion of the Present for daily news and community.

SPREAD THE WORD: on the latest - Sep 12 Rally at the U.N. in New York - to Stop Sudan Genocide.
- - -

THANK YOU TO ONE AND ALL
For blogging the plight of Sudanese in Darfur and Chad


Sudanese women are silhouetted at Abu Shouk camp in North Darfur, Sudan, where more than 40,000 displaced people are receiving food and shelter from international aid agencies. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) (September 01, 2004)

ENGLAND
Alistair Coleman (kudos to the BBC + Caversham for great coverage on Sudan)
The UK Today - thanks to Clive for the info on EDMs and how to make contact by fax and email with our MPs
Norman Geras - great weekly postings on Sudan

IRELAND
Gavin Sheridan - oil and China posts (btw great work being done in Sudan by Ireland's GOAL aid agency)

SCOTLAND
Scottish Webring members (and kudos to Scotsman.com for great reporting on Sudan)

WALES
Bob Piper - always kindly posted on Sudan
Doug Floyd lyrics of Sudan Song and list of the album's tracks
Doug at Quadrophrenia for posting the lyrics of Song for Sudan.

CANADA
Jim Elve at BlogsCanada - The Suffering Continues Unabated
Officially Unofficial - BlogsCandada - The Suffering Continues Unabated
BlogsCanada E Group Blog Multi-partisan Political Punditry
Jim Elve another awesome post on aid links courtesy BBC
E Group Blog - Multi-partisan Political Punditry - Arjun's great discussion thread on: "Should Canada Intervene?"
Boris Anthony another neat post on A failure of will
Allseasons
Lost Below the 49th: Darfur, ReDux - check out link to great piece on Romeo D'allaire (and his book)
Lost Below the 49th Crazy Canuck returns

BRITISH COLUMBIA
Arjun Singh Sudan Genocide: UN finds No Significant Progress...
Arjun Singh has written great posts on Sudan at CanadaBlogs e-group.
Sébastien Paquet - real neat posts as usual

FRANCE
Loic Le Meur (has not posted on Sudan, as far as I am aware, but Loic has many links in his sidebar for anyone wishing to connect up with French bloggers)

AUSTRALIA
Robert Corr - Time for action (best Sudan intro in the blogosphere)
Jonathan Rowbottom hosted interesting discussion thread

PORTUGAL

Virginia Barros' Sítio da Saudade: Sudão powerful post on Sudan (also see above Poem for Sudan)
Nelson

HOLLAND
Ado (who is Dutch and works in Tokyo at Joi Ito's)

JAPAN
Joi Ito re Images of genocide
Joi Ito's list of posts on Sudan
finalvent on China, Japan, Russia and oil
finalvent on Darfur
finalvent re Sudanese FM visit to Japan Sept 5-9 for talks on Darfur
finalvent - more on oil

MALAYSIA
Rajan's first of the great round ups on Sudan
Rajan's second great Sudan Genocide roundup
Rajan's third and, for the Sep 6 meetup, his latest Sudan Genocide roundup
Aiseh, man thoughtful post on Compassionate Infidels

USA
Jim Moore's Journal - April 22, 2004 post that started it all (here at this blog I mean!)
Jim Moore's Journal - April 23, 2004 post that I picked up on and have been blogging about ever since (*yawn*)
Sudan Day of Conscience
Ethan Zuckerman Top Ten Worst Dictators
Ethan Zuckerman Making Room for the Third World in the Second Superpower
ChaiTeaLatte Madhu kindly linked to several posts and got my blog Instalanched
Instapundit - regular posts on Sudan and esp re oil
Nicholas Genes has written some super posts - his doc buddy Jonathan Spector is now safely back home in the US after working with MSF in Darfur
Pauly's Side of the Truth - has just written another great post on Sudan
Jonathan Broad "Dallaire on Darfur: It is happening...again" (a must-read)
Gary Silberberg - regular postings on Sudan
Patrick Hall - exclusively Sudan posts - neat finds
Allied - one of the few great female bloggers writing about Sudan
Squirrel in DC - link to Samantha Power's great piece in New Yorker on her travels in Sudan
Cheers to The Register for publicising Oxfam's "Songs for Sudan" download album for Darfur.

[Note: sincere apologies to those I've missed out, I've not checked through four months of archives in my main blog. If I have missed you, please email me or comment and I will add your link here - or write a special post later on. Thanks.]
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Note to Jim: Sorry, unable to post image of Passion of the Present's poster. Flickr is superb but for some reason I couldn't get it to show. Instead, I've posted a link to the download at www.blockstreet and building.com

Here is a photo of the town in Portugal where Portuguese blogger Virginia lives. Virginia kindly volunteered to compose, in English, a poem for Sudan, especially for today's "virtual" meet up.



[Photo - with thanks to Sítio da Saudade - courtesy of Rui Vale de Sousa - apologies to photographer, this transmission has cropped right side of picture, full image avail at www.ruivaledesousa.com or copy and paste it into a page in your computer and whole image should appear]
- - -

UPDATE September 8, 2004:

Seems there is no accurate way of knowing who is all blogging about Darfur. Technorati's lists are invaluable (blogosphere would not be the same without it) as you can also search on key words Sudan and Darfur and read blogs that have published using those words during previous 7 days.

Trouble is, the list changes every week, and sometimes there are hundreds to click through. It takes too much time to keep up with. As much as we'd like, we can't visit every blog posting on Sudan. Also (but not too often) links to this site, and others, do not show up in Technorati's listings.

So, if you have posted on the Sudan and are not linked here or at Passion of the Present, please do please make contact in comments or by email - even if it is just to say the word hi - with your blog URL to link here for readers interested in seeing what others are saying, doing and thinking about the Sudan. Thanks. Don't be shy. These two writers took the time and trouble to comment:

AUTHOR OF SUDAN POSTS AT WAVEFLUX BLOG
Is the best sousaphone player in South Carolina

Hello and thank you to the author of Waveflux in St Louis, USA for his neat posts on the Sudan that include Who will save the people of Darfur? - and:

- contact info on officials who may have influence
- copy of a reply received from Sen. Jim Talent's office
- great post for the Day of Conscience
- and Passion of the Present's poster.

In his "about" section, Waveflux writes that a band director once called him the best sousaphone player in the state of South Carolina - and says "that's saying something, because those things are heavy" (but, to be fair he admits, the ones he played way back when were mostly made of fiberglass).

Sousaphone (SOO-zah-fone) is a brass instrument invented by John Philip Sousa which was adapted from the tuba. The Sousaphone has a forward bell which coils around to rest upon the player's shoulder thus allowing the instrument to be carried with greater ease while marching.

[Photo - with thanks to Waveflux - courtesy of G. Leblanc Corporation]


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ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY
Hello to founder Cameron Sinclair



Hello to Cameron and thank you for commenting at my virtual meet up post at Passion of the Present.

Cameron is the the founder of Architecture for Humanity and was trained as an architect at the University of Westminster and at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London.

During his studies, he developed an interest in social, cultural and humanitarian design. His postgraduate thesis focused on providing shelter to New York's homeless population through sustainable, transitional housing.

After completing his studies, he moved to New York where he has worked as a designer and project architect. Since 1996, Cameron has worked on projects in more than 20 countries including England, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United States. [read more ...]

Scramble for Resources in DRC Leads to Massive Deaths, But Scant Attention

August 17, 2004, Congo-Kinshasa [interview], copied here in full:

"With an estimated 3.5 million Congolese dead over the last six years due to war, starvation and disease, the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the world's worst long-running humanitarian disasters. About 3.3 million people are out of reach of relief organizations.

Clashes between rebel groups and government forces continue to ravage eastern Congo. Many observers say the conflict is now a struggle over resources. Learned Dees, Senior Program Officer for Africa at the National Endowment for Democracy, testified before Congress last month that forces from neighboring Rwanda and Uganda are stealing the DRC's resources.

Dees has been a freelance journalist in Africa, covering political events in Congo from 1990-1991 and filing stories for NPR, BBC, and Voice of America. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in the late 1980s in then-Zaire and is fluent in Kikongo and Lingala, two of the most widely spoken local languages in the Congo. Recently returned from a trip to the DRC, he shared his views about the conflict there.

Dees talked about his analysis of the eastern Congo situation and the lack of media attention to the crisis to AllAfrica's Milen Yishak.

What are some of the major challenges to restoring peace in the DRC?

The situation in eastern Congo has remained volatile. One of the shortcomings has been a lack of focus on ending violence.

I think the strategy seems to have been [that] progress in the political situation in the west of the Congo would bring peace to the east of the Congo. That clearly has not happened.

What are your thoughts on the 2005 national elections?

Elections are at the end of the process. Clearly right now, we are facing a short-term crisis having to do with the violence in the east. Unless those short-term issues are prioritized, it would make it difficult for elections. But having said that, there is no reason that the focus can't be shifted in order to deal with the short-term issues first and the longer-term issue of elections.

It can happen. But it can only happen if the focus changes to deal with the obstacles that would prevent the elections from happening. The first obstacle is the politically related violence in the east. The other issue is the technical organization of the elections, [which] are less of a challenge than the political violence that presents the major challenge.

Why is Rwanda helping the rebels in the Eastern DRC?

The reason put forward most commonly is that they have a security interest in the Congo. And those security interests involve keeping the FDLR (Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda) away from the border. That seems to be the security interest argument.

Other than that, I am not sure what their motivation is other than the well-established facts related to economic pillaging that were in the report that the UN has done over the years in eastern Congo and Congo.

MONUC (U.N. Organization Mission in the DRC) did not gain access to uranium mine sites, which had recently collapsed. How does the DRC's collapsed uranium mines affect workers and the international community?

Obviously, if uranium is in the mine, there are levels of radiation, which the workers and their families might not be aware of. It's a danger to them, and probably unbeknownst to them how much of a danger.

There is a great concern by the international community about the mine in general. There hasn't been much oversight over the activities at the mine. Because it is unregulated, anyone can have access to the mine. Therefore, there is the potential that uranium can be mined -- and who knows who will get that uranium. I think it is incumbent on the government of Congo to react accordingly and make sure that the mine is secure. Because attention is being focused, that will probably happen in the short term.

Do you see any similarities between the coverage of the crisis in Darfur and the DRC?

What happened in Darfur started happening seven, eight, nine, ten months ago. Not much attention was paid when the crisis was building. When the crisis exploded -- when the humanitarian issues arose -- then nine to ten months later, there was a crescendo of attention focused exclusively on this issue.

You could compare this to the situation in eastern Congo. The problem in Bukavu started in February. Fighting started in May and June. We are looking at the potential for more fighting in Goma anytime. The humanitarian consequences will be similar to what we see in Darfur - a million people displaced and in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

It seems to me that media attention is often focused on a single crisis, as if the world can't deal with more than one crisis in Africa at a time. But over the long term, Congo represents a greater humanitarian crisis, because we have more people displaced, more people killed, and you have the potential for another level of violence.

Do you think the media spotlight in Darfur is taking away from the coverage of DRC?

I think Darfur deserves attention. There will be responses as a result, and that's a good thing.

The challenge in the Congo is focusing on what's causing the violence. If the media were to focus on what's causing the violence currently and what could be done to stop violence, that would be an enormous contribution rather than waiting until the violence has erupted and following the result.

The humanitarian consequences have occurred over a long period of time. Media attention has been fleeting. There has been some attention, and then it sort of disappears. In part, it is a result of the nature of the media, which focuses on one crisis or one set of bad news and then goes on to the next. There's not really a sustained amount of attention.

What do you think would attract more attention to the DRC?

I think a visit by Kofi Annan as he did in Darfur brought attention to the problem. A visit by Colin Powell or a high-ranking American official would focus attention. I think those are the sorts of things that the media responds to.

Darfur got into the news because Kofi Annan was there. Darfur got into the news because Collin Powell was there. I think that sort of attention by the UN and the U.S. Department of State and the Secretary of State would bring the same amount of attention." [end of interview]

[via Exegesis]
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DANIEL KREISS OF EXEGESIS BLOG
Questions media coverage of Darfur -v- Congo

Daniel Kreiss authors Exegesis blog that he describes as "Comment and Analysis on the Press, Politics, and Digital Culture from New York City." - and himself as a proud unofficial blogger of the Democratic Convention.

On August 23, 2004, Daniel authored the following post:

"The situation in the DR Congo has taken another turn for the worse, with the main rebel group pulling out of the power-sharing government.

As a recap, the governments of Rwanda and Burundi have threatened to retaliate after the massacre of 160 Congolian refugees in Burundi last week.

All eyes are on Darfur, but this conflict has the potential to dwarf Sudan in terms of humanitarian needs."

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Here is a copy of Daniel's August 18, 2004, post:

Here is a good overview of the DR Congo instability in the form of an interview with Learned Dees, Senior Program Officer for Africa at the National Endowment for Democracy. With 3.5 million killed over the last six years, it is hard to fathom the lack of press attention. Dees says:
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I think a visit by Kofi Annan as he did in Darfur brought attention to the problem. A visit by Colin Powell or a high-ranking American official would focus attention. I think those are the sorts of things that the media responds to.

Darfur got into the news because Kofi Annan was there. Darfur got into the news because Collin (sic) Powell was there. I think that sort of attention by the UN and the U.S. Department of State and the Secretary of State would bring the same amount of attention.
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One of the things I have been fascinated by is how much the Christian Right has made the genocide in Sudan an issue, resulting in the attention it has received from the Bush Administration, including Colin Powell's visit, and the national press.

Here is a sampling of Jerry Falwell's statements on Sudan:

"Over 2 million Christians have died in the Sudan in recent years at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists. The press to their discredit have failed to maximize the international tragedy that is underway."

"If a massacre were being conducted against people of color, God forbid, or groups like gays and lesbians, there would be an understandable outcry that would demand change," Falwell told Baptist Press. "It is a tragedy that Christian lives do not seem to have the same value to the national media."

Meanwhile, groups like Christian Aid, Servants Heart, and Christian Solidarity International have been involved in not only relief efforts, but also forcing the issue on the press.

This from Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief Services:

"Well, the situation is tragic. As we visited the camps of the displaced people we saw desolation and fear, and in some cases, a lack of hope. There's an awful lot of people -- almost 1.5 million people -- who have been forced to flee their homes because of attacks from militia gangs who have raped, who have burned their homes, who have killed. And these people are now living in the most desolate of conditions in just terrible circumstances."

Now it seems to me a little ironic that the same attention is not being lavished on the DR Congo, either because it is less symbolically and ideologically clear cut, or because it has been a protracted and much more complicated war.

Either way, followers of Christ are being killed. The DR Congo is over 70 percent Catholic or Protestant. Contrast the 1.5 million who are internally displaced in the Sudan with the 3.8 million in the DR Congo.

From Amnesty International:
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In July 2003, an AI research mission visited IDPs (Internally Displaced People) in North Kivu Province who had fled Bunia, Ituri's capital. AI researchers documented IDP accounts of rapes, beatings, and killings as they fled their homes. "The precarious security situation and relative or total lack of humanitarian assistance place the displaced in an even more vulnerable position in terms of human rights violations," their October report said.
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I am not faulting Christian organizations for being involved in Sudan; indeed, I think the DR Congo is more a failure of the press, US leadership, and the UN security council. However, if we are going to bat for the cause of human rights, then the same amount of attention needs to be placed on all conflicts and not just those where it is easy to contrast a Muslim Janjaweed vs. Christian refugees to the American and European publics.

[Note -- this post is work - in - progress : apologies to Daniel for copying his two posts here without explanation: I must leave this post for now, just wanted to get this blog set up and the details posted so I can work on a draft post here that will explain the rationale for this new blog]

Darfur, Congo seen test for Africa peace-Straw

CAPE TOWN, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Africa must not allow the spectre of genocide to rise again and should increase efforts to end conflicts and encourage economic growth, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Thursday.

Straw, on an official visit to South Africa, said the crisis in Darfur in western Sudan was Africa's biggest immediate challenge and would test the African Union's ability to promote peace via dialogue.

The U.S. Congress has declared the violence in Darfur, in which Arab militias are accused of attacking black villagers, to be genocide although the European Union has not gone so far.

Africa's last genocide was in Rwanda, where 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered by Hutu extremists in 1994.

Britain, as chief financier of Africa's military mission in Darfur, would provide more cash if asked, Straw told a public lecture in Cape Town. Britain was also awaiting a report from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on what he considered to be the next steps in addressing the crisis.

"The stakes are high...Africa needs to meet the test," said Straw, who visited Darfur earlier this week. "We are ready to do more (to help) if asked."

A million people have been driven from their homes and up to 50,000 killed in the Darfur conflict, the U.N. says. The AU has proposed sending some 2,000 AU troops to confine rebels to their bases while Khartoum disarms pro-government Janjaweed militia.

Straw said Africa needed to consolidate peace deals worked out by South Africa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi -- where militant Hutu rebels slaughtered 160 Congolese refugees earlier this month.

In a reference to this troubled Great Lakes region Straw said:"If Africa is to thrive, we cannot allow a conflict to smoulder at its heart, across an area the size of Europe ... Nor can we allow the spectre of genocide to hover again over the continent."

"Addressing these challenges will will help entrench stability and boost growth and development."

PEACE ENFORCEMENT

Straw said Britain was looking to enhance the role of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Congo, known by its French acronym MONUC. African leaders say MONUC should be given an Article Seven UN mandate, which allows peace enforcement.

He said a key challenge in the Congo was to disarm what are known as "negative forces", which refers to Hutu militias or former soldiers who served in the Rwandan army before the 1994 slaughter.

The Burundi massacre by the rebel Forces for National Liberation (FNL) has sparked concern that Burundi's peace process could collapse and led to fresh tensions between Rwanda and Burundi on one side and Congo on the other.

Regional leaders have branded the FNL a terrorist organisation but chief Burundi mediator and South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma said this week FNL could return to peace talks if it renounced terror activities.

Africa: A scar on the conscience of the world

August 21, 2004, Independent UK news report copied here in full:

Three years ago, British Prime Minister Tony Blair appealed to the world to heal the wounds of Africa. As Foreign Secretary Jack Straw prepares to fly to the Sudan tomorrow, the continent is still riven by strife, war and famine.

"The state of Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world. But if the world as a community focused on it, we could heal it. And if we don't, it will become deeper and angrier" - Tony Blair, 2 October 2001.

IVORY COAST: REBELLION

What is going on? The country, which produces 40 per cent of the world's cocoa, is effectively split between north and south following a rebellion two years ago by Muslim northerners over national identity and land ownership.

What is Britain doing to help? Britain is taking a low profile with no direct aid. The African Union, is attempting to organize elections in October to end the standoff.

What is the solution? No signs of early resolution to stalemate

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: WAR

What is going on? Sporadic fighting continues despite 2002 peace agreement. Congolese Tutsi rebel soldiers occupied eastern town of Bukavu for a week in June

What is Britain doing to help? Britain backs the UN peacekeeping mission and is also pressing Uganda and Rwanda to end any involvement, which they deny

What is the solution? Conflict expected to continue

ZIMBABWE: TYRANNY/FAMINE

What is going on? Political crackdown continues ahead of elections next year

What is Britain doing to help? Britain hopes South Africa will intercede with President Mugabe to resolve standoff

What is the solution? Stalemate will only be removed when Mugabe leaves power - quietly, it is hoped

SUDAN: ETHNIC CLEANSING/FAMINE

What is going on? Rebellion in Darfur provoked government crackdown leaving 1.2 million homeless and 50,000 dead

What is Britain doing to help? Largest single cash donor having provided £63m in humanitarian aid. Backs African Union efforts and UN

What is the solution? No easy answer. Sanctions could prove disastrous

UGANDA: REBELLION/AIDS

What is going on? Mystical Lord's Resistance army has terrorised northern Uganda for years with vicious campaign that has forced 1.5 million people from their homes

What is Britain doing to help? Britain has supported President Museveni with £740m in development aid since he came to power

What is the solution? Negotiations with Sudan-based leader Joseph Kony doomed to failure, miltary solution seems inevitable

RWANDA: ETHNIC STRIFE

What is going on? Rwanda continues to deny Congolese accusations that it has its soldiers in Congo in violation of a peace agreement. Ethnic tensions in Rwanda still strong after 1994 genocide.

What is Britain doing to help? UK is largest single donor, providing nearly £33m last year. But government rejects calls to use aid to pressure President Kagame

What is the solution? Peace in Rwanda depends on solution for Congo

BURUNDI: CIVIL WAR

What is going on? 160 Tutsis were the victims last week of low level civil war

What is Britain doing to help? Britain is stepping up aid with £8m budgeted for 2004-5. UN just set up political mission

What is the solution? Solution depends on settlement in DR Congo
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On the trail of the killers who harvest child body parts for muti medicine      

21 August 2004, Independent UK news report by Basildon Peta, Southern Africa Correspondent, copied here in full:

They first hit 10-year-old Sello Chokoe with a blunt instrument, causing a gash on his head. They then chopped off his penis, his hand and his ear. They were harvesting his body parts for "muti" - the murderous practice of traditional African medicine

Yet it is far from a normal part of such medicine. "In my many years of service in the South African police, I have not encountered this sadistic taking of a young innocent life," said police inspector Mohlahla Moshane as he led us to the spot.

The murder site is a few kilometres away from Sello's village, Moletjie, in northern Limpopo province. There stands a distinct and lonely hill in a vast grass and shrub veld.

The unsuspecting Sello was lured to the spot after being asked to look for a neighbour's donkeys. After a carefully planned ambush, his killers wedged him between the two large rocks to performed their macabre ceremony.

Sello seems to have dragged himself from the rocks where he had been abandoned. A woman collecting firewood found him and he was taken to hospital, but died a few days later. He was buried last Sunday in his fear-wracked village.

The practice of muti provides a disconcerting counterpoint to the contemporary image of the new South Africa. Dr Gerard Lubschagne, who heads the investigative psychology unit of the South African police service, conservatively estimates lives lost to ritual murders at between 50 to 300 every year. "We don't have accurate figures because most murders here are recorded in our records as murders irrespective of motive," he says. "Most people might also not regard a murder as a muti matter but just dismiss it as the work of some crazy killers."

Dr Lubschagne admits the rate of murders signals a very worrying trend in South Africa. Despite South Africa being the most developed African economy, a huge chunk of its population still believes power and wealth are better stoked by witch-doctors than stockbrokers and market analysts. "People who want to do better, people who want to be promoted at work, gamblers and politicians who want to win and even bank robbers who seek to get away with their criminal acts turn to muti," Dr Lubschagne said.

How the body parts are used varies with what customers want to achieve. They are eaten, drunk or smeared over the ambitious person. Various parts are used for different purposes. A man who had difficulty in producing children killed a father of several children and used his victim's genitals for muti. In another case, a butcher used a severed human hand to slap each of his products every morning before opening as a way of invoking the spirits to beckon customers.

Mathews Mojela is the head teacher at Sello's primary school. He has worked in rural areas for nearly a quarter of a century and says muti is founded in the archaic belief that there is only a limited amount of good luck around. If one wants to increase his wealth or luck, then it should come at another's expense.

The screaming of a child while his body parts are being chopped off is also regarded as a sign calling customers to the perpetrator's business, Mr Mojolela said. It is also believed that magical powers are awakened by the screams. Eating or burying the body parts "capture" the desired results. Robert Thornton, an anthropology professor at the University of Witswatersrand in Johannesburg , who has done research in traditional healing, says children like Sello are targeted because it is believed that the power of the virgin is greater than that of a sexually active adult.

The main motivating idea is what Professor Thorntorn describes as "symbolic logic", the idea that another person's penis will strengthen the perpetrator's, or that the perpetrator's far-sightedness will be improved by devouring the victim's eyes. Blood is thought to increase vitality.

Professor Issack Niehaus of the University of Pretoria fears that muti killings will increase as the inequalities of wealth become more entrenched. He said: "I would expect the occult economy - that is the belief in using magical means to gain prosperity - to increase as poverty worsens."

At the spot where Sello was murdered, Inspector Mashane said "A young kid is carefully lured into this bush and mutilated without any witnesses. If he survives, perhaps he is the only person who could help identify his killers."

One of the few victims who lived to tell his story was Jeffery Mkhonto, who six years ago was mutilated by an organised gang set to harvest body parts. He had been lured to the house of a neighbour for food and ended up being castrated.

Dr Lubschagne says muti killings are difficult to investigate because there is no clear relationship between perpetrator and victim. Yet other reports have also suggested that the muti victim is often known to the perpetrators and is easily lured and murdered in the process. Communities themselves are often too afraid to come forward with evidence because of fears of a magical retaliation.

At Sello's homestead, even the elders were too afraid to point any fingers directly at a neighbour, a traditional healer, although many villagers implicated him in Sello's murder in muffled tones. The neighbour had allegedly sent Sello to fetch his donkeys without Sello's mother's permission. Peter Kagbi, who is in his late sixties, was questioned for four days by the police over Sello's murder before being released pending further investigations. Mr Kgabi confirmed that he had sent Sello to fetch the donkeys, but he denied taking part in the murder.

He said he saw nothing wrong in sending Sello without the mother's permission as he had done that on similar errands before, a point hotly disputed by the boy's family. Mr Kgabi said he had been threatened by the community and told they planned to burn him alive because he was a wizard.

"Some are accusing me of killing Sello but I did not," he said. "I have not fled my home despite the threats because if I do, the community will regard that as an admission of guilt."

Even the eventual capture and conviction of Sello's killers would do little for his brokenhearted single mother, Salome, 39, who lives with her two remaining children on a £15 a month social grant from the government.

"Anything that does not bring back my son is hardly of any importance to me now. No mother wants to lose a child this way," she said.

Her emotional state will not be helped when she learns that Sello's body parts probably were sold for no more than £200 each, the price normally charged for a child's body parts in the muti industry.
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This blog is dedicated to Dr James Moore [more later -- this weblog is in the process of being set up]