Scants details are thus far transpiring on the attack this Sundayafternoon by heavily-armed assailants of the Raïs's residence in theGLM neighborhood of downtown Kinshasa, by the Grand Hôtel.According to Communication Minister Lambert Mende, the assailants wererepulsed by the outer protection ring of the Presidential Guardbilleted around the residence of the Raïs, who was on tour in theBas-Congo Province. The President has since returned to Kinshasa.Mende put the death toll at 6 assailants killed during the clash.Other sources claim that 2 presidential...
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Congolese households often resort to two expedients to make ends meet:1) get a loan from a "Banque Lambert," that is, a neighborhood loanshark; or 2) join a "tontine," or a circuit of contributors who byturns give each contributing member a predetermined amount of money ona daily, weekly, or more commonly, monthly basis.Tontines by women traders are proven to be sustainable and somemicrocredit schemes are even based on their model. But tontinecircuits by underpaid civil servants usually disband abruptly when oneof the "shareholders" is unwilling...
Friday, 18 February 2011
Ever since the constitutional revision voted by the bloc of theAlliance of the Presidential Majority (AMP) in Congolese Parliament(in the absence of opposition MPs who boycotted the debate) andpromulgated by the Raïs this year--a constitutional revision thatallows among other things a one-round presidential election--theopposition has been striving to build a unified front with one solepresidential candidate in the elections slated for November of thisyear.Opposition leaders Jean-Claude Mvuemba and Frank Dionge have justbeen trying to have the...
Saturday, 12 February 2011
The military court trying the murder case of Flori Chebeya conveneswithin the premises of Kinshasa Makala Prison. The court convenesevery Monday and Thursday. I was taken to watch the court proceedingson Thursday, February 3, by an acquaintance who is a junior officer ofthe military justice detailed to the court.As could be seen (not clearly, unfortunately) in the above picture Isnapped with my mobile phone, the military court sits against thebackground...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
