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Posts Tagged ‘news’

Update on Violence in Eastern Congo

The presidents of Congo and Rwanda have signed an agreement calling for an international military force to root out the current rebellion in eastern DRC. According to a Reuters report yesterday, the agreement came out of a meeting of leaders from the Great Lakes region in connection with an African Union summit in Addas Ababa, Ethiopia. Presidents Joseph Kabila and Paul Kagame also met one-on-one at AU headquarters, in connection with the Great Lakes session.

Map of region, BBC

According to Reuters, “Kabila, Kagame and the other Great Lakes presidents condemned ‘in the strongest terms the actions of the M23 and other negative forces operating in the region and support the efforts deployed by the government of the DRC for the restoration of peace and security in North Kivu province,’ according to the declaration from the meeting seen by Reuters. Endorsing Thursday’s security pact, the leaders also condemned a separate eastern rebellion by predominantly Hutu insurgents and agreed to ‘work with the AU and the UN for an immediate establishment of a neutral international force to eradicate’ all armed groups in eastern Congo.”

The fuller account is well worth reading: “Congo, Rwanda presidents sign up to anti-rebel pact.” The BBC also has a good report online: “Rwanda and DRC ‘agree on international border force.’” Both articles treat the important question of where the international force will come from, as well as giving helpful perspectives on the history of violence in this region.

Just to be clear: the area talked about here, where violence involving various groups has continued past the end of the second Congolese war in 2003, is on the opposite side of the country from the Ubangi region, where the Paul Carlson Partnership is at work. Our area has been mostly calm since ’03, with only one brief outbreak near the region significant enough to worry about in these nine years.

SAJ 16 Jul 2012

New Rebellion in Eastern Congo

Photo: BBC/AP

A new rebellion has been tearing the North and South Kivu provinces apart, again, though you may not have seen anything about it in the U.S. news media. This current uprising is by men who had been part of a rebel group in earlier struggles in the area and were subsequently incorporated into Congo’s national army. If that sounds like a risky proposition, it was. In April a group of these soldiers broke away and began advancing through the Kivus, fighting against the army they had just left. They are commanded by Bosco Ntaganda, also known as “Terminator,” a notorious thug who was second to Thomas Lubanga. If you recognize Lubanga’s name, it’s probably because he was recently sentenced by the International Criminal Court to 14 years in prison for war crimes. Ntaganda has also been indicted by the ECC.

Earlier this week the rebels–who call themselves M23 after the date of a failed peace treaty–threatened to invade the city of Goma, North Kivu, “if attacks against civilians in the city do not stop,” according to the BBC account. If that statement sounds totally inside out, just remember, this is Congo, where things do not have to make any sense where military force is involved. United Nations peace-keeping troops were moving to Goma to protect the city, and the rebels later denied that they intended to try to take that target. Meanwhile, an estimated 200,000 new refugees have been created by this upheaval.

Photo: BBC/Reuters

There are two quite good articles that I recommend if you want to get a quick but insightful picture of what’s going on this time. The first is on the BBC’s website: “The tactics behind DR Congo’s mutiny.” Written by Andrew Harding, BBC Africa Correspondent, the article takes the perspective of what the M23 rebels are actually trying to achieve. “As with most mutinies, the turmoil now spreading across the lush green hills of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is, despite appearances, a calculated and calibrated affair. Its ultimate purpose is not to conquer territory or defeat enemies but to strengthen a negotiating position and to win, for its various partners, a bigger slice of power or money or security. In this case, all of the above.”

The second comes from the Agence-France Presse, as picked up by ReliefWeb: “Kivu: why DR Congo’s border region is focus of violence.” In this one article, you’ll get a good survey of the involvement between the DRC and Rwanda going back at least 18 years. If you want a more thorough treatment of that history, superbly done, read Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, by Jason K. Stearns. And if you want to keep an eye on how this particular episode of warfare is going, watch the BBC online. They’re pretty good about reporting on Congo and other African countries.

SAJ 13 Jul 2012

The Lights Are On at Karawa Hospital!

In the past two weeks something remarkable has been going on at Karawa hospital in Congo: lights! The hospital had been limping along on brief periods of electricity each day because their only source was a generator with a ravenous appetite for diesel fuel. Imagine trying to run a hospital without reliable electricity!

The Zulu hydroelectric plant was built years ago to serve the hospital, and we’ve recently invested in getting the two turbines overhauled and brought back into working condition. But Zulu is 7 miles from the hospital, which means 7 miles of badly worn cable lying between the two. To replace it would cost as much as $250,000, an impossible sum.

Karawa pediatrics ward with the lights on!

So we turned to solar. We advertised the need and the projected cost, several of our wonderful partners stepped up to help, and in April we contracted with Kade Zongalinga to outfit the most urgent buildings at the hospital. And on June 25 we received this email from Marta Klein, physician assistant working at Karawa and member of our Medical Steering Team:

“Let’s talk about some good news. No, it’s actually great news. Last week on Wed. was the first night with lights on in the Pediatrics ward!!!!! The solar panel has been installed and all the wiring. There are two lights in the main room of Pediatrics and one light in the med room and isolation room. The nurses are loving it. I went down there on Friday evening and took some pictures with the lights on. I’ll try to attach them with this email. I also heard the lights for Maternity are working. I saw it first hand today as I walked through there. Even a little light makes such a big difference. We just wanted you to know that the patients are appreciative and the providers are also appreciative for this improvement.”

Other urgent buildings are being also being done as part of this project, and we’ll update you later on them. Right now, we send a big, big thanks to our three primary church partners in this project: Lakeview Covenant Church, Duluth; Trinity Covenant Church, Salem, Ore.; and the Kent (Wash.) Covenant Church. Equally big thanks to the individuals who also contributed. Take a peek through the door and see what you’ve done!

SAJ 28 Jun 2012

Emergency Medicines for Wasolo

It started when Dr. Freddy told Tom Christy that Wasolo hospital was running out of medicines. Dr. Freddy Bale is the medical director there, and Tom is a good friend of the hospital and village of Wasolo. After spending two years there as a short-term missionary, back in the eighties, Tom just couldn’t get Wasolo out of his head, or his heart. He has continued helping out in a number of ways ever since then, sometimes together with the Paul Carlson Partnership, sometimes on his own.

In March Dr. Freddy told Tom that they were running low on meds. Tom calculated that he would need $14,000 to provide $10,000 worth of medicines, with the cost of shipping. He contacted PCP to ask if we could give $5,000, saying that the Kejr Foundation of Salina, Kansas, would contribute $9,000. Byron brought the matter to our Medical Steering Team, and, with Dr. Aimé’s approval (the medical director of the CEUM system), the team said yes.

So Dr. Freddy gave Tom a list of the needed pharmaceuticals, and an associate of Tom’s purchased them in Kinshasa. From there it was air freight to Bumba, then by truck from Bumba up to Wasolo–the most isolated of the CEUM hospitals. (See the maps on our Facebook page.) On April 16 the truck arrived, and the boxes of medicine were unloaded at the pharmacy.

And the moral of this story? Well, there are three: (1) the CEUM hospitals need more medicines than we are able to provide right now; we’ve set a goal of doubling the amount; (2) strategic partnerships can make a lot of good happen; and (3) never underestimate a committed volunteer! Hats off to Tom for making this happen, and to the Kejr Foundation for their generosity.

SAJ 7 May 2012

Malaria Rising Sharply in Congo

The incidence of malaria in the DR Congo has been rising during the past three years, particularly in recent months, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders). An article on the MSF website reports that in six of the eleven provinces of Congo, the number of cases treated at the organization’s clinics and hospitals has risen by 250 percent since 2009. In recent months they have seen a high number of cases of the most severe form of the disease. Each year, malaria kills 300,000 children under five in Congo. It is the top cause of death in the country.

A unit at Karawa hospital, with primary support from PCP

MSF points out that the DRC presents a “context of a health system that is sorely lacking resources at all levels.” This is true across the country, but some areas are particularly disadvantaged. The eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, for example, are still plagued by continuing violence from militias, DRC military, and all sorts of renegades–an unsettled and fearful context that makes it hard to seek treatment for malaria and other illnesses.

The article also cites Équateur province–where PCP works–as needing help, saying “the limited presence of effective healthcare providers and overstretched health systems make it difficult for people living in endemic areas to access prevention and treatment.”

The best means of protection against malaria is long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed nets. The DRC government recently launched a major distribution of the nets in Katanga, Bandundu, and North and South Kivu provinces, as reported in an article on ReliefWeb. Supported by UNICEF, the World Bank, and other international agencies, this current drive will give out a total of 13.7 million nets. In the past, Équateur has benefited from similar international distributions. In spite of these efforts, WHO (the World Health Organization) reports that only 6 percent of Congolese children sleep under treated nets.

Both articles are worth reading in full. See the MSF article here, and the ReliefWeb article here.

The Paul Carlson Partnership has been supporting medical care in northwest Congo for over 40 years. Read more about our medical work elsewhere on this website, with further information on our Medical Ambassadors site.

SAJ 1 May 2012

Update from Kinshasa

Texa Dembele Menda, our Congo Country Manager, emailed on Monday (the 26th) with this report on events in Kinshasa in the past few days related to the disputed presidential election:

Texa Dembele Training FTM Leaders

“Here in Kinshasa, the Government declared today holiday for all services. I am at home with my Family.

“Kinshasa had a critical critical political situation in especially, Friday, the day Tshisekedi ( the Guy who didn’t be elected) decided to take the oath. He was been stopped in his house by the police. He couldn’t go out of his house. Some of his militants tried to go to the Martyr Stadium the place of the ceremony, the police scattered them by tear gas. But in short, this day was not so bad. We didn’t note any death. I heard that one person death because when he did run, he walked on the electricity cable . . .

“Christmas week was a little bit disrupted by this event. The Christmas day passed well.”

Texa himself was a candidate in the parliamentary election. Results from those races are not expected before mid-January.

SAJ 28 Dec 2011

Congo Election Reactions

Photo: Foreign Policy

“I want you guys to read this article on the Congo.” That was our friend and former summer staff member Nyenemo Sanguma, sending us an article from Foreign Policy about the disputed results of the national presidential election and the attitude of the West toward this outcome.

We’ve been watching news sources during the past few weeks, as we’ve tried to follow and understand what was happening over there. The opposition insists the election was rigged and on Dec. 14 called for mass protests. The Carter Center and other observers have pointed to a number of reported problems, the archbishop of Kinshasa has said the results “do not conform either to truth or to justice,” the U.S. ambassador to Congo called the process “seriously flawed” — and the Congolese Supreme Court must decide by tomorrow, the 17th, whether to validate the results.

We’ve also been in touch with Nyenemo periodically during the past few weeks. Following the (delayed) announcement of the results on Dec. 7, he reported that Kinshasa was filled with soldiers and police. It was forbidden for even three people to assemble in Kinshasa, and text messaging was down throughout the country. Nyenemo also told us how, shortly before the elections, Kabila increased the number of members on the Supreme Court from 7 to 27 by adding his own appointees.

As tense as the country has been, Nyenemo’s feeling was that life will return pretty much back to normal in January. “People don’t like it,” he said, “but they have to go back to their lives.”

The article he sent is well worth reading. It appeared in Foreign Policy last Wed., the 14th, and is written by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, a Congolese currently at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Here’s the link.

SAJ 16 Dec 2011

Congo Election Update

As this is written it is about 3:30 p.m. in Congo, 7:30 a.m. here in Chicago, and the press has posted some updated information on the election. As expected, balloting has been extended in some areas where there were particular problems with access to the voting process. Jason Stearns, writing in his blog, Congo Siasa, reports that “voting has wrapped up in many places in the eastern Congo, but continues in some areas and in many places in the West.” Stearns, the author of Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, lists some incidents of polling place problems that he has heard about.

Photo AFP/BBC

The BBC online reports, “Polling has been extended into a second day in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo where voting did not take place on Monday. Election officials say the extension affects at least 400 of the vast country’s 63,000 polling stations. As well as long delays, the vote was hit by violence with polling stations attacked by armed men and angry voters.” The article adds that “election officials are only now starting to organise the transport of these results to regional tallying centres, where provisional results can be announced.” Some results are already being tallied locally.

On AlertNet, Reuters reported that “voting in some areas carried on into the night, while others were asked to be patient and mark their ballot on Tuesday after some ballot papers did not arrive on time.” The article went on to say, “Mounoubai Madnodje, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Congo known as MONUSCO, said the United Nations was still delivering electoral materials on Tuesday to some areas which have yet to vote, including the central province of Bandundu.”

The updated New York Times report emphasized the violence that marred the day: “Ballot boxes on fire, rebel fighters gunning down poll workers and outbursts of mob violence marred Congo’s national elections on Monday, only the second time this vast and troubled country has held anything resembling a democratic vote. The worst election violence occurred in Lubumbashi. Few here predicted these elections would be easy. President Joseph Kabilais reviled in many parts of the country, and his security forces have already killed many opposition supporters and used a mix of repression and bribery to squeeze out votes. At the same time, opposition leaders are dangerously stirring up their camps, saying that the elections have been rigged and calling on people to reject the results.”

SAJ 29 Nov 11

Congo Elections Today

The national elections in Congo are being held today — or beginning today. Some sources have suggested that they may have to be extended a day or two because of logistical problems, such as delivering paper ballots the size of small newspapers to over 60,000 polling places in this country with few paved roads. One report said some were being delivered by helicopter. Initial reports from the Ubangi region in Equateur province, where the Paul Carlson Partnership is at work, indicated an absence of violence there.

Here are some snippets from four sources reporting on the elections:

From the New York Times: “Millions of voters in this vast, turbulent and pivotal country in the lush heart of Africa streamed into the polls on Monday, and many were already bracing for serious unrest. As predicted, balloting was a bit bumpy, with many polling stations opening late, some missing ballots, countless people unable to find their names on the voting lists and loose ballots inexplicably lying around deserted offices.”

The BBC online updated their report around noon: “The Democratic Republic of Congo election has been marred by violence and logistical problems. At least four people died after gunmen attacked polling stations in the second city, Lubumbashi, officials say. In the opposition stronghold of West Kasai, polling stations were reportedly set on fire by voters angry at long delays but the capital, Kinshasa was generally peaceful.”

A report on Reuters AlertNet talked of the confusion and difficulty that some voters faced: “Many voters trekked between polling stations, confused over where they were meant to cast their ballots, and scuffles broke out over shortages of voting materials and allegations of fraud. ‘I voted. I left at 7 in the morning. I have been to five schools,’ said Bercam Nzangi, a Kinshasa resident. “I was able to do this but what about those mammas who can’t read and write or don’t have transport. This is organised chaos.”

AllAfrica.com carried a report from Radio Netherlands Worldwide that began with this: “An armed attack and lengthy delays marred voting in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national elections on Monday after a campaign that saw deadly violence. Police in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi said armed men had swooped on a convoy of eight jeeps around 3:00 am (0100 GMT) and fled when police escorting the vehicles opened fire, wounding some of the assailants. Two jeeps carrying nearly 1,000 ballots caught fire and burned in the attack, AFP correspondents said.”

SAJ 28 Nov 11

100 U.S. Troops to Support Fight against LRA

In the midst of the major international headlines of the past few days, you may have heard something about the U.S. “sending troops into Congo.” More correctly, 100 troops are being sent into Uganda to aid in the fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army. The force, most of them special operations troops, will begin in Uganda, tasked with providing training to Ugandan soldiers who are engaged in this fight. At some point some of the Americans may move on into affected areas, including the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and the DR Congo. According to U.S. officials, the troops will not engage in combat except as may be needed to defend themselves.

The Lord’s Resistance Army, of course, is one of the bloodiest of the militias roaming the area around eastern Congo. From their beginning in Uganda, they have now largely moved on into the immediately surrounding countries.

To read more about this move by the U.S. military, here are several resources:

White House: US advisers to aid fight against infamous Lord’s Resistance Army — news story by the AP, carried in the Washington Post, quoting President Obama’s letter to Congress about this move

No Combat Role for U.S. Advisers in Uganda, Official Says — by Josh Kron writing in the New York Times, reporting on a press conference with the American chargé d’affaires in Kampala, Uganda

Taking on Uganda’s elusive Lord’s Resistance Army — commentary on the BBC by Africa correspondent Andrew Harding

The LRA Crisis Tracker — website displaying LRA attacks and movements as reported by local villagers using radios, plus reports from international agencies and local NGO’s

(Photo GETTY/AFP)

SAJ 21 Oct 2011