1) DRC Supreme Court strikes down Article 22 of National Assembly'srules and regulationsArticle 22 of the rules and regulations of the new National Assemblywas struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Justice onMonday, March 26.The article provided that the bureau and the committees of theNational Assembly had to be proportionally earmarked for majority andopposition parties according to their numerical strength.In its ruling, however, the Supreme Court found that the article was"discriminatory" and thus violated Article 13 of the...
Friday, 30 March 2012
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Charles Mwando Simba wraps up information mandate with report to Prez and press briefing
Posted on 08:51 by Unknown
Former Defense Minister and newly elected MP, Charles Mwando Simba,wrapped up his information mandate at 11:00 this morning with a pressconference at Venus Hotel, in downtown Kinshasa.Mwando's press briefing comes hard on the heels of the audience he hadyesterday with Kabila at the latter's office at the Palais de laNation. During the short audience with Kabila, Mwando handed to thePrez his final report on his information mandate that consisted inidentifying the parliamentary majority (from which will stem theoncoming Prime Minister), paying heed...
Friday, 23 March 2012
1) Looming Africa's Water Wars; 2) DRC to UN Joint Human Rights Office: "Show us those mass graves!"
Posted on 08:31 by Unknown
Several years ago, when Africa's World War was still raging on, myBurundian buddy and then housemate Alexis Sinduhidje told me one dayin Cambridge, MA: "If you think this war is bloody, then brace for thelooming bloddier Africa's Water Wars, whose battleground will also bethe Congo!"I've always taken seriously everything Alexis says.But most Congolese I've talked to since then about the looming waterwars didn't take that possibility seriously--with the exception of onesenior officer of the FARDC General Staff who actually brought thesubject in...
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Updated by my daughter on Jason Russell's Incident
Posted on 10:14 by Unknown
Yesterday at 7:31 (Kinshasa Time: GMT + 1) I got a call from mydaughter Elikia who was on board a plane on the tarmac of Edinburghairport, Scotland, en route to Washington, D.C. She was using Skype onher laptop.A part of the conversation went like this:"Hey, dad, you know that guy on Kony 2012 video--the narrator?""Yeah... Jason Russell.""Right. You won't believe this: he was arrested in San Diego. He wasnaked in the street, masturbating!"Unbelievable! At the moment, as Elikia only mentioned the incident bythe end of the short phone call, I thought...
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Three-month house arrest for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales
Posted on 11:38 by Unknown
You'd know right away that times have dramatically changed at thesound of those cans of worms popping open and the clamor of theoutraged posse zeroing on Staff Sgt. Robert Bales--the "Infidel" andthe financial crook who, drunk and high, went postal in Boondocksistanon Sunday, March 11.The once valorous combatant, drunk and high, just snapped... andblacked out. According to credible testimonies from his comrades, Sgt.Bales had sneaked out of Camp Belambay and gone on a killing spree inthe nearby village... Body count: 16.Remember this though: the...
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Lubanga 2012 vs. Kony 2012
Posted on 06:45 by Unknown
Thomas Lubanga, a former child army general and molester of Ituri innorthern Democratic Republic of Congo, was found guilty yesterday onall 3 counts of war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC)at The Hague. And Congolese hope the sentence would ensure that thiscriminal will be out of commission and off the streets of Congo forthe rest of his evil life.This was not a sexy affair, despite the presence in court of glamorousAngelina Jolie. Nor was this a "savvy media campain," to borrowWashington Post's Hayley Tsukayama's phrase to describe...
Mudslinging in the Kleptocratic Republic of Gondwana: ex-Premier Adolphe Muzito responds to MP Gérard "Gécoco" Mulumba
Posted on 03:29 by Unknown
Mamane is a Nigerien stand-up comedian who is a comedian in residenceof Radio France Internationale in Paris. Mamane has a mock chronicleof a fictional African country he calls Republic of Gondwana--so namedafter the Precambrian supercontinent--where anything goes, especiallywhen its mercurial president, aptly called Président-Fondateur, wakesup on the wrong side of the bed. And these last few days, the DRC ismore and more resembling Mamane's Republic of Gondwana.Consider the mudslinging now splattering major players within Kabila'sPresidential...
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
1) Radio-Trottoir: Kabila unleashed Gécoco upon Muzito; and 2) Stampede at the door of the “Informateur” Charles Mwando Simba
Posted on 07:03 by Unknown
1) Radio-Trottoir: Kabila unleashed Gécoco upon MuzitoRadio-Trottoir sees the hand of Joseph Kabila behind the recent accusations heaped upon former Prime Minister Adolphe by MP Gérard “Gécoco” Mulumba. And Radio-Trottoir put forth four reasons to back this claim.Firstly, Gécoco’s accusations, backed by photographs and video clips, are so detailed they could only have been gotten by professional intelligence-gathering services—especially in light of Gécoco’s claim that he’s also sitting on more evidence of Muzito’s ill-gotten gains overseas. Secondly,...
Monday, 12 March 2012
Kleptocracy Alley (Redux): Outraged MP Gérard "Gécoco" Mulumba resigns over massive theft by former Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito
Posted on 16:03 by Unknown
Controversial businessman, former Kinshasa Provincial lawmaker andnewly elected national MP Gérard "Gécoco" Mulumba, a member of thePresidential Majority, appeared on national TV to announce hisresignation from parliament.The reason?Well, Gécoco claims that former Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito, who hasjust been elected MP, has bilked the state of millions of dollars tobuild a vast real estate empire in Kinshasa--which, he alleges, isjust the the tip of the iceberg of Muzito's massive theft."I don't want to be sitting next to someone who didn't...
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Two capitals in mourning: Victims of Brazzaville blasts lay in state and Kinshasa TV relays signal of telecast
Posted on 13:25 by Unknown
DRC state-owned TV channel "RTNC" relayed today Sunday, March 11, thesignal of the 3-hour telecast by Congo-Brazzaville's government-owned"Télé-Congo" of the lying in state, in the plaza of the Palais desCongrès (the seat of parliament), of 3 dozens or so of identifiedvictims of last Sunday blasts of the high explosives depot of thearmored regimental Mpila barrack in eastern Brazzaville. (A DRCofficial told me Congo-Brazza authorities are holding back victims'remains at morgues to avoid public outry and shock.)Among the attendees were 3 dignitaries...
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Kleptocracy Alley: The passel of ministers that recently resigned ought to be audited
Posted on 05:13 by Unknown
In the previous post I relayed the alleged malfeasance of formerHigher Education Minister Léonard Mashako Mamba who, according toreliable sources at Kinshasa Univerity, just days before resigning hisministerial post after his election to parliament, stuffed the alreadyplethoric personnel of universities and colleges with the whoppingnumber of 800 new administrative hires.There are now calls issuing from the opposition and from at least oneKinshasa daily paper for an audit across the board of the passel ofministers who've just resigned. Those making...
Thursday, 8 March 2012
1) Minister Léonard Mashako Mamba hires 800 before resigning; and 2) Kabila appoints MP Charles Mwando Simba as oncoming government's "formateur"
Posted on 07:38 by Unknown
1) Higher education minister Léonard Mashako Mamba allegedly hired 800before resigningAnger and resentment are palpable these days among mid- and high-level administrative managers at Université de Kinshasa and other collegesin the Congolese capital city as well as countrywide.These administrators allege that Léonard Mashako Mamba, the ministerof higher education, hired 800 new university and college personnelhours before resigning from office last week.Various administration sources at Université de Kinshasa told me thatthis hiring could spell...
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
1) Government resigns; and 2) DRC evacuates its citizens from shell-shocked Brazzaville
Posted on 15:06 by Unknown
1) Government resignsAfter three years and a half in office, Prime Minister Adolphe Muzitotendered to Prez Kabila his government resignation on Tuesday, March6. Kabila then promptly appointed the Presidential Majoritystalwart--and one of the vice-prime ministers of the outgoinggovernment--Louis Koyagialo Ngbase te Gerengbo as acting Premier.Two dozen other members of the outgoing government who have beenelected to the National Assembly have also resigned--including theoutspoken Information Minister Lambert Mende and Planning MinisterOlivier...
1) Aftermath of Brazzaville blasts; 2) Double-cross within Presidential Majority; 3) CENI at Zelenograd, Russia; and 4) A dog screwed Obama's mom!
Posted on 08:54 by Unknown
1) Aftermath of Brazzaville blastsCongo-TV, the state-owned TV station of Congo-Brazzaville I'mmonitoring here in Kinshasa, is continuing broadcasting localChristian soukouss video clips in a loop, interrupted now and then byofficial communiqués (among several other communiqués, those relatedto a curfew around the perimeter of the Mpila armored regimentalbarracks in eastern Brazzaville where the ammunition depot explodedand in the business district, and a communique on the locations ofimprovised shelters for IDPs), footage of devastation in the...
Sunday, 4 March 2012
1) Panic in Kinshasa by Brazzaville proxy; 2) Cat's cradle within Presidential Majority parties for premiership; and 3) UDPS goes to parliament
Posted on 13:07 by Unknown
1) Panic in Kinshasa by Brazzaville proxyAt mid-morning this Sunday, several high explosive deflagrations shookhouses to their foundations. A TV remote-control I was holding fellfrom my hand when the house shook.Billows of smoke loomed over the northern horizon of Kinshasa, thedowntown area, particularly over the Gare Centrale.Panic started spreading throughout the city as people feared that acoup or a mutiny was in progress.Soon afterwards, however, the government-owned TV station RTNCinterrupted its regular programming to announce that the explosionswere...
Friday, 2 March 2012
(Re)reading Notes: René Lemarchand and Michela Wrong's fallacious Amnesia Theory creeps in Jason Stearns's "Dancing in the Glory of Monsters"
Posted on 05:34 by Unknown
My pointing to this small factual error in Jason Stearns's "Dancing inthe Glory of Monsters" is in no way akin to, as someone said inanother context, the labors of hairsplitting "pedants who correctgrammatical errors in love letters."This error evinces instead the characteristic underplot inscribed inmany analyses by some western observers (political and socialscientists and reporters alike) of the Congo: the alleged shallownessor outright lack of historical memory of the Congolese people and itspoliticians.By contrast, US Secretary of State...
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