"National park in Congo offers views of erupting volcano" November 15, 2011|Associated Press
KINSHASA, Congo - A national park in Congo best known for its endangered mountain gorillas is now inviting tourists to go on overnight treks to see a volcano spurting fountains of lava nearly 1,000 feet into the air.
Mount Nyamulagira began erupting Nov. 6 and could continue to do so for days, or even months....
Rivers of incandescent lava are flowing slowly north into an uninhabited part of the park, but the lava flows pose no danger to the park’s critically endangered mountain gorillas, a statement from the park said.
Virunga Park is home to 200 of the world’s 790 mountain gorillas, as well as lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, okapi, forest elephants, and buffalo.
The park has set up a tented camp nearly 1 mile south of the eruption, where tourists can spend the night....
Virunga is located in eastern Congo, where numerous militia and rebel groups continue to terrorize the population nearly a decade after the country’s civil war ended. Some 360 park rangers protect the park and its wildlife from poachers, rebel groups, illegal miners, and land invasions.
Rangers worked through the civil war in eastern Congo’s five parks, with more than 150 killed in the last 10 years, according to the statement.
The 3,000 square-mile Virunga National Park is a World Heritage site containing seven of the eight volcanoes in the Virunga mountain range that sprawls across the borders of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. Only two are active - Nyamulagira and, closer to Goma, Mount Nyiragongo....
--more--"
Time for some scary stories:
"Gunmen kill 36 at pub in Burundi" by Associated Press / September 20, 2011
BUJUMBURA, Burundi - Armed men from Congo burst into a pub in the central African nation of Burundi and killed 36 people, an official said yesterday.
Burundi, a tiny nation still reeling from a civil war that killed some 250,000 people, is awash in weapons but attacks like the one Sunday night are rare. Still, the region borders eastern Congo, which is racked by violence from myriad rebel groups....
I'm wondering where they got those weapons.
Related: Cutting Through the African Bush
It's thick, but well worth it!
Survivor Jackson Kabura, who was shot in the stomach, said the men entered wearing military fatigues. “One of them said, ‘Kill them all, kill them all. Make sure there’s no survivors,’ ’’ he said.
Congo’s military spokesman, Colonel Sylvain Ekenge, said officials were astonished by reports that the attackers were believed to be from his country.
He said the perpetrators are more likely to be rebels from Burundi’s last rebel army, the Forces for National Liberation. He said Congolese forces had captured some of the Burundian fighters in Congo several months ago.
--more--"
"For the past year there have been reports that the extremist Burundian Hutu rebel group, led by Agathon Rwasa, is operating in eastern Congo and may be preparing for war in Burundi. Burundi has suffered attacks on police which allegedly are linked to a renewed rebellion by the group.
At U.N. headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack and called on all parties to exercise restraint, his spokesman Martin Nesirky said. Ban "hopes the perpetrators of these crimes will be brought to justice promptly," Nesirky added.
When the UN or US calls on all parties to exercise restraint it means they support the murderers. They say the same thing about allied governments that repress protests. If it's an enemy, the criticism flies.
The U.N. mission in Congo has reported the presence of NLF fighters and bases in eastern Congo, and suggestions they may be allied with Rwandan Hutu rebels also operating there.
The U.N. Group of Experts on the Congo in a November report quoted "multiple credible sources" on the Burundian group rearming and remobilizing in Congo. But Burundi's government has said there is no evidence the group is preparing for war.
Burundi's war started in 1993, when Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the country's first democratically elected president, a Hutu. A cease-fire was declared in 2006 but it took several more years to finally see an official end to the fighting.
Gatumba was the site of a 2004 massacre of Congolese refugees. Human Rights Watch said at least 150 people were killed in the attack claimed by the Forces for National Liberation.
--more--"
And look who is coming to help:
"Congo violence is focus of Clark University summit; Activists raising awareness in national campaign" September 25, 2011|By Patricia Wen, Globe Staff
WORCESTER - The weekend conference, “Informed Activism: Armed Conflict, Scarce Resources, and the Congo,’’ featured speakers representing the State Department, the US Agency for International Development, and a wide range of academic institutions.
AID = CIA
I find it hard to believe the people responsible for the problem (promoted by this mouthpiece media) are going to fix it.
The conference did not produce a roadmap for US college students trying to make a difference in the war-torn country, though many participants sensed increased momentum on the issue and believe the US public-relations focus on “conflict-free’’ cellphones at least heightens awareness of violence in the region....
See: Around Africa: Calling the Congo
Several campus leaders at the conference said they want to think deeply and broadly about the Congo problem but often face pressure to boil down their pitch into a snappy presentations.
It's called concision.
Today’s college generation, they said, face the Herculean challenge of explaining complex, scientific global issues, including climate change, to a generation with short attention spans....
“I think my cellphone may have something to do with mass rape in the Congo,’’ said Naama Haviv of Jewish World Watch, an organization dedicated to combating genocide.
Need I even note it regarding my jewspaper?
So how is world watch helping on the Palestinian question?
Yet others urged the crowd to think less in snappy, Twitter-friendly phrases and more about the complex historical root causes of the violence in Congo.
Or the globalist-corporatist angle.
They suggested that many of the nation’s top producers of mobile phones, which obtain minerals from Congo to make their devices, are only a small part of the problem.
Don't let anything interfere with the money to be made.
Congo’s future, said one native of the African country, will come from homegrown political solutions by its young people, not Americans deciding to choose mobile phones from manufacturers who only use minerals obtained from “conflict-free’’ areas....
True just about anywhere when you think about it.
--more--"
Time to check out:
"Congo: 2 killed in clashes days before poll
KINSHASA, Congo—Two people were killed in pre-vote clashes Saturday in Congo's capital and security officials fired into a crowd that included tens of thousands of opposition supporters, prompting officials to ban rallies before a critical poll that observers say could re-ignite conflict in the vast central African nation.
That was the content of my Sunday Globe brief.
Violence erupted Saturday among political supporters who had gathered to greet the top opposition presidential candidate, who had planned to come to the airport in a car convoy. Supporters of the president also gathered there to meet him, though he did not pass through the airport.
At the airport, security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition into the burgeoning crowd.
Scuffles erupted on the road to the airport. Two dead bodies were seen along that road. One of them, a young man, was badly bludgeoned and appeared to have been stoned to death. A second body, also a man, was seen being carried away by Red Cross medics on the same road. It was not immediately clear how he had been killed.
Police also fired tear gas to push the crowd away, but riot police manned the airport hours later to prevent opposition presidential candidate Etienne Tshisekedi and his entourage from leaving the scene.
It was not immediately possible to determine the total number of casualties from Saturday's clashes.
Saturday's violence prompted the governor to call off political rallies ahead of Monday's vote. Governor Andre Kimbuta made the announcement on state television Saturday.
"Because of the escalating violence seen in Kinshasa, all public demonstrations and other political meetings are canceled this Saturday," Kimbuta said. "This is for a better result of the electoral process. The urban authority calls on the population's patriotism."
Human rights groups had expressed fears about an atmosphere of spiraling violence and hate speech ahead of the vote in the large mineral-rich nation. The outcome of the vote is almost certain to keep President Joseph Kabila in power.
Earlier this month in Kinshasa, gunmen fired on Tshisekedi campaigners putting up posters, wounding two. In the southern mining city of Lubumbashi, another 16 were injured in violence pitting Tshisekedi's supporters against a rival opposition party. Young people in the eastern city of Goma took to the streets after popular folk musician Fabrice Mumpfiritsa was kidnapped after he refused to sing songs supporting Kabila. He was found three days later, legs and eyes bound and so badly beaten he had to be hospitalized.
"We all know that the country is not ready to hold this election," said Jacquemain Shabani, the secretary general of Tshisekedi's party, which was the first major opposition party to stand up to former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in the 1980s. "It's inevitable that it will bring conflict if they go ahead with it."
How the elections unfold will be a likely indicator of whether Congo is consolidating its fledgling democracy or returning to a state of widespread instability after decades of dictatorship and civil war, according to the International Crisis Group.
The violence is just one of the numerous challenges that could derail Monday's vote and re-ignite conflict. Tension is running high, partly because many polling stations have not yet received the necessary voting materials.
On Friday, just days before the poll, at least 33 of the 80 planes carrying voting materials to the provinces were unable to take off because of bad weather.
Election experts say it is unlikely the ballots will be able to reach the remote interior in time in a country with so few paved roads, and where there are some 60,000 polling stations spread out over a territory the size of Western Europe.
"We have been trying to sound the alarm but to no avail," said Jerome Bonso, coordinator of the Coalition for Peaceful and Transparent Elections.
"The end result of a democratic election should be the resolution of conflict. Instead, we're heading into an election which is by its very nature bound to aggravate conflict ..." he said. "And the planes carrying the voting materials have not even taken off yet."
Voters will be choosing between 11 presidential candidates and more than 18,000 candidates for the 500-seat parliament.
In a nation where a third of adults cannot read, voters will be handed a ballot as thick as a book, due to the overwhelming number of parliamentary contenders. Politicians are using campaign rallies to explain to voters where to find their names on the ballot paper.
Jason Stearns, former coordinator of the United Nations Group of Experts on the Congo and the author of a book on the country's political history, said the number of candidates is bound to create confusion inside polling stations because the ballot is confusing even for those who know how to read.
This is shaping up to be one sham of an election.
It will also create delays in an election that is supposed to take place in a single day, and may result in a large share of people not being able to cast their votes.
That sounds like an AmeriKan election.
"There is an overwhelming number of candidates and voters will have a limited amount of time in voting stations," said Stearns, who pointed out that even the three best-known candidates, including Kabila, are informing voters at rallies of their place on the ballot paper.
"Even among the 11 presidential candidates, every one of their campaign advertisements stress their number on the ballot. Kabila is No. 33. Tshisekedi is No. 11," said Stearns.
It's the country's first election since the landmark 2006 vote which was considered the country's first democratic vote in 40 years, but was marred by weeks of street battles led by supporters of the losing candidate.
Congo's history of back-to-back wars also provides a backdrop. Kabila, a former rebel leader, first took control of the country a decade ago, after the 2001 assassination of his father, Laurent Kabila, who ruled Congo after overthrowing dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997.
He was elected president in 2006, a vote which was overseen and organized by the U.N.
I'm always suspicious of those.
The runner-up was former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, now on trial at the Hague. He refused to accept defeat, unleashing his private army on the capital, leading to weeks of street battles.
He sounds like the Ivory Coast guy, remember him?
There are no warlords in the race for president this time, and none of the candidates have personal militias at their disposal, Stearns said.
--more--"
"Congo officials: vote to proceed after clashes" by Saleh Mwanamilongo Associated Press / November 27, 2011
KINSHASA, Congo—Election officials in Congo said Sunday that a critical national poll would go ahead Monday, after a weekend marred by deadly clashes at political gatherings, reports of delayed ballots and fears that the vote could re-ignite conflict in the large, mineral-rich central African nation.
Daniel Ngoy Mulunda, president of the Independent National Electoral Commission, said Sunday the vote would take place. Commission Vice President Jacques Ndjoli said separately: "We invite our people to go vote calmly."
At least four people were killed in Saturday's clashes when political supporters headed to Kinshasa's main airport to welcome their candidate. Main opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi arrived; the president -- who is expected to win the poll -- did not pass through as expected.
Scuffles erupted and security forces at the airport fired tear gas and live ammunition into the burgeoning crowd. Riot police manned the airport for hours afterward to prevent Tshisekedi and his convoy from leaving.
Police inspector general Charles Bisengimana said four bodies were recovered and taken to a morgue on Sunday, and said opposition supporters attacked the president's supporters. He also blamed Tshisekedi for refusing to leave the airport.
Tshisekedi said Sunday that more than 10 people were killed and 68 were wounded. He said three of the dead were members of his office and were killed by police, but he did not give details on the others. Later Sunday, Godefroid Mayobo, an official from a party allied with President Joseph Kabila, said their supporters were attacked by Tshisekedi's supporters, leaving three dead. And two dead bodies were seen on the road leading to the airport when clashes erupted there.
The European Union's election observation mission criticized police in a statement released Sunday.
The EU mission said it "considers the police operation that took place last night at (Kinshasa's) airport against the convoy of a presidential candidate and the arrests that were made as a serious breach of the right to campaign and the principle of equality that should prevail."
Saturday's violence prompted officials to ban political rallies and gatherings before the election. A defiant Tshisekedi said Sunday that he planned to hold an afternoon public meeting at Kinshasa's Martyrs' Stadium, but the meeting did not happen.
The EU mission also said it "regrets that the last days of the electoral campaign were spoiled by many serious incidents and violent clashes which unfortunately cost human lives, especially in Kinshasa. The mission deplores the chaotic and improvised management of the last political meetings by many presidential candidates, by the Kinshasa authorities which restrained freedom of opinion, meetings and demonstrations."
Human rights groups had expressed fears about an atmosphere of spiraling violence and hate speech ahead of the vote.
The violence is just one of the numerous challenges that could derail the vote and re-ignite conflict.
As of Friday, many polling stations had not yet received the necessary voting materials, after least 33 of the 80 planes carrying voting materials to the provinces were unable to take off because of bad weather.
Election experts said it was unlikely the ballots would reach the remote interior in time in a country with so few paved roads, and where there are some 60,000 polling stations spread out over a territory the size of Western Europe.
"We have been trying to sound the alarm but to no avail," said Jerome Bonso, coordinator of the Coalition for Peaceful and Transparent Elections.
It's the country's first election since the landmark 2006 vote which was considered the country's first democratic vote in 40 years, but was marred by weeks of street battles led by supporters of the losing candidate.
Congo's history of back-to-back wars also provides a backdrop. Kabila, a former rebel leader, first took control of the country a decade ago, after the 2001 assassination of his father, Laurent Kabila, who ruled Congo after overthrowing dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997.
He was elected president in 2006, a vote which was overseen and organized by the U.N. The runner-up was former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, now on trial at the Hague. He refused to accept defeat, unleashing his private army on the capital, leading to weeks of street battles.
--more--"
I stayed a lot longer than I thought I was going to.
