DRC Supreme Court of Justice sentences MP Adolphe Onusumba to 1 year jail term & $100,000 fine

(PHOTO: MP Adolphe Onusumba)***MP Adolphe Onusumba was found guilty as charged and sentenced to a12-month jail term and slapped with a $100,000 fine for statutory rapeby the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) Friday, September 28.After sentencing, Onusumba was taken away to Kinshasa Makala Prison,where he'll serve his sentence.The speedy trial at the CSJ --five court sessions (from Monday,September 24 to Friday, September 28)--was due to the case offlagrante...

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No Comment: Onset of Madness: DRC Oil Minister Crispin Atama: We'll see whether we'll destroy Virunga National Park or not!

(PHOTO: DRC Hydrocarbons Minister Crispin Atama Tabe Mogodi)(MAP: "Block V" oil reserve, given to SOCO International at theVirunga National Park. See details and legend of this map on SOCO Website on the page address below)(Map Address: www.socointernational.co.uk/block-v-and-the-virunga-national-park)***"The DRC has the right to know what resources it has under the earth,even if it's in the park or the forest, anywhere."We're going to evaluate the...

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DRC Prosecutors seek 20-year jail term for MP Adolphe Onusumba for statutory rape

PHOTO: Dr. Adolphe Onusumba in 2002 while still RCD warlord. He iscurrently the chair of the political party "Union des Congolais pourle Progrès" (UPC), affiliated with the pro-Kabila plank called"Majorité Présidentielle" (MP).***Legal woes of MP Adolphe Onusumba, accused of statutory rape on hisward Ms. Mireille Owale, worsened Thursday, September 27, at theSupreme Court of Justice.MP Onusumba was first stripped of his parliamentary immunity and...

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Joseph Kabila & Paul Kabila met twice in New York as North Kivu citizens say No to Neutral Force

(PHOTO 1: Tanzanian Brig. Gen. James Aloys Mwakibolwa, head of JointVerification Mechanism, unfurls ICGLR flag in Goma, September 14)(PHOTO 2: Goma riot cops disperse anti-Neutral Force demos and nabcivil society youths on International Day of Peace, September 21)***On Tuesday, September 25, Presidents Joseph Kabila and Paul Kagamahuddled with other regional leaders at an informal "Congo Summit,"chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, on the...

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No Comment: François Hollande on foreign interferences in the DRC (UN General Assembly)

(PHOTO: French President François Hollande delivering his maidenspeech at the 67th UN General Assembly, New York, Tuesday, September25, 2012)***"May I recall that this Assembly has been able to assert oneprinciple: States have all the responsibility to ensure the securityof their civilians."And if a state were to fail this obligation, it is incumbent upon us,upon the UN, to engage means to assume it in its stead."Let's not bury this promise for it...

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MP Adolphe Onusumba, under house arrest for statutory rape, claims his ward not a minor

(PHOTO: Dr. Adolphe Onusumba Yemba, former RCD warlord and currentpro-Kabila MP)***There is definitely "equal opportunity" in the number of pervspopulating both wings of the political spectrum in the NationalAssembly.There was first pro-Tshisekedi MP Diomi Ndongala who went into hidinga while ago after being accused of having repeated sexual intercourseswith two underage sisters.Now is the turn of former RCD warlord and current pro-Kabila MPAdolphe...

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Comic Relief at Virunga National Park: Guerrilla Marketing by Gorilla Marketing

(PHOTO 1: Ranger Balemba Baligizi, Project Leader of the BriquetteProgramme at Virunga National Park, in a gorilla suit in a crowd ofIDPs squatting the buffer zone of the Park)(PHOTO 2: Ranger Balemba Baligizi leans on the entrance sign atRumangabo Station)***Who says there can't be comic relief amidst the misery of war in North Kivu?We see that there are indeed jocular patches on the seemingly smoothlywoven fabric of gore, fear, dread, and want...

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Burundian Army Sources: Rwanda setting up Mai-Mai militias in South Kivu via Burundi

(PHOTO: Luberizi, South Kivu, where Rwandan-created Mai-Mai Obedattacked a proving ground of FARDC September 17)***Chances are you've already heard of the "false twins" that Burundi andRwanda represent.Well, forget all about that.Burundi and Rwanda are now (and have always been) true, and evenconjoined, twins when it comes to wreaking terror, instability, andpillage in eastern Congo.And this association has now hatched yet another devious scheme...

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Wuthering Flats: Contemporay masses & the violence of the withering Aura of monokini-clad Victorian Bodies in the Age of Digital Reproduction

(PHOTO 1: Cover of Italian gossip magazine "Chi" featuring grainypictures of topless Kate Middleton, presumably shot by Frenchpaparazza Valérie S.)(PHOTO 2: An unidentified woman carjacker mobbed and stripped naked indowntown Nairobi about a week ago)***A twister of Victorian rage triggered by photos of monokini-clad KateMiddleton has swept over Great Britain these past few days, leaving inits path free speech severely scathed in... France!France,...

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AFRICOM: Gen. David "Rod" Rodriguez to take over command next year

(PHOTO: Major General David M. Rodriguez speaking on an unspecifieddate at the Washington Foreign Press Center while still the commanderof the 82nd Airborne Division, Coalition Joint Task Force - 82Regional Command-East, Afghanistan)***The New York Times reported Wednesday, September 19, that Gen. David"Rod" Rodriguez "would take over early next year from Gen. Carter Hamin what two American officials said was a routine change of command."The reporting...

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Photo Test

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Curse of Celebritydom (by Shobhaa De): On Indian Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, indicted on Sedition Charges

(PHOTO: 25-year-old Indian cartoonist Aseem Trivedi speaking to themedia after his release on bail from Arthur Road Prison in Mumbai,Wednesday, September 12, 2012)***(Outraged, I recently begged Indian celebrity blogger, writer,scriptwriter, producer, columnist, social & cultural critic, Ms.Shobhaa De, to come out swinging on her blog--which is on myblogroll--against the arrest of anti-corruption campaigner-cartoonistAseem Trivedi on sedition...

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South African Ambassador to Burundi secures safe-conduct for MP Roger Lumbala, who's now in Paris

(PHOTO: Pro-M23 MP Roger Lumbala Tshitenge)***Few details have emerged about the safe-conduct the the South AfricanAmbassador to Bujumbura was able to secure for the Congolese pro-M23MP Roger Lumbala.MP Lumbala, flanked by South African diplomats and a UNHCR seniorofficial, arrived Saturday at Bujumbura International Airport at 11:00am local time (GMT+ 2) and boarded a Paris-bound Kenya Airways flight,Radio France Internationale (RFI) reports.MP...

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Parallel Universe: President Mitt Romney orders strikes on Benghazi, Tripoli & Cairo

Navy destroyers USS McFaul and the USS Laboon (seen here) unleashedearly Friday morning a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles onBenghazi, Tripoli, and Cairo. The two warships were already deployedin the region at the time of the US Benghazi consulate attack Tuesdayfor a naval exercise dubbed "Restore Faith in AmericanExceptionalism." One aircraft carrier and 4 destroyers left Norfolkearly yesterday and are headed to the region. Photo by CommunicationSpecialist...

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Le Potentiel attacks PM Matata but Radio-Trottoir sees hand of Inner Circle

(PHOTO: Didier "Didi" Kazadi Nyembwe, former spy chief, the manRadio-Trottoir accuses of engineering vicious attacks against PMAugustin Matata Ponyo Mapon)***When the new government was ushered in in early May, Kinshasa daily LePotentiel was among other Congolese media that praised the wisdom ofPresident Joseph Kabila in selecting the unassuming and nerdy newprime minister, Matata Ponyo, and hailed the cabinet of "technocrats"the latter selected.Well,...

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French Socialist brass tap Parisian-born Martinican Harlem Désir as party boss

(PHOTO: Harlem Jean-Philippe Désir)***Both outgoing Socialist Party Secretary General Martine Aubry andFrench Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who represent the majoritywing of the party (wings are called "motions" or platforms), announcedin a terse statement this Wednesday morning they've chosen HarlemDésir as the next party boss--pending the vote by party members inOctober.Harlem Désir prevailed over his rival, Paris socialist MPJean-Christophe...

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NINE-ELEVEN: In Memoriam: Victims of Armies of Traitors

(From Daniel Richter's 2011 Kestnergesellschaft Exhibit "10001nacht")***Artist: Daniel RichterTitle: Army of TraitorsDate: 2011Dimensions: 200 x 300 cmMaterial: oil on canvasCredits: kestnergesellschaft.deVia: Third Part...

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DRC GOV cuts off signals of RLTV, media group owned by pro-M23 MP Roger Lumbala

(PHOTO: Psychedelically-smeared façade of RLTV, media group owned byMP Roger Lumbala, former warlord and chair of RCD/N, sought forquestioning by Kinshasa prosecutors on suspicion of high treason andwar-mongering)***It was bound to happen.The government has finally cut off radio and TV signals of Radio TéléLisanga (RLTV), a media group belonging to MP Roger Lumbala, formerwarlord and current chair of the party RCD/N.Radio Okapi reports that RLTV...

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Prez Paul Kagame snubs dead-end ICGLR Kampala-II Summit

(PHOTO: Prez Joseph Kabila arriving at Entebbe airport, Friday,September 7, 2012)***President Paul Kagame snubbed the dead-end ICGLR Kampala-II Summit atSpeke Resort Munyonyo.He was instead represented by his hawkish defense and foreignministers, James Kabarebe and Louise Mushikiwabo respectively.President Kagame had far more exciting glamorous stuff to attend toin... Hong Kong (Young Presidents Organization and meeting withbusiness leaders), Tianjin...

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