Archivo etiqueta «República Democrática del Congo»
By Simon Jenkins (THE GUARDIAN, 05/11/08):
The Guardian headline on Monday was clear as mud. It read “Stop killing in Congo or else, leaders warned”. Everything was left hanging. Which leaders? Warned by whom? Or else what? The story was that western spokesmen had warned various African leaders, albeit via the press, that they would be “held to account, or else” if they did not do what they were told. This clearly implied military intervention and there were briefings to that effect, though only a few hundred soldiers were mentioned.
The threats were from the new prophet of Blairite interventionism… Seguir leyendo
By Simon Tisdall (THE GUARDIAN, 03/11/08):
Talk of sending British forces to the eastern Congo is a diplomatic fantasy – and one that could quickly turn into a nightmare. Even if well-prepared, well-equipped troops were available (which is not the case given Britain’s other involvements), a deployment would be neither sensible nor responsible without major commitments by other EU countries. As the French presidency has discovered, there is zero appetite across Europe for more African adventurism of this kind. Given the history, that is no surprise.
The highly public weekend effort by Britain’s David Miliband, France’s Bernard Kouchner, the US… Seguir leyendo
By Paul Collier, the author of the forthcoming Wars, Guns and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places (THE GUARDIAN, 03/11/08):
Much of my work has been on conflict in Africa, so the latest catastrophe in the Democratic Republic of Congo has unsurprisingly generated questions of the form “What now?” My buck-dodging answer is: “Don’t start from here.” We are where we are because of the persistent failure of the international community to face reality. Part of that reality is that the UN is ill-suited to a reactive mode of operations: reaction requires decisions and logistics that are usually stymied by a… Seguir leyendo
Por Ángel Expósito Mora, director de ABC (ABC, 18/08/08):
Lo que está ocurriendo desde hace años en la República Democrática del Congo es un perfecto ejemplo del puzle imposible que lo peor de la globalización ha traído consigo. Luchas étnicas, fuerzas armadas incomprensibles, fronteras inexistentes, antiguas potencias coloniales desaparecidas, nuevas potencias sin escrúpulos, riqueza inimaginable en el subsuelo, violencia sexual y una caprichosa geografía que rodea los Grandes Lagos; es decir, todos los ingredientes para el horror ante la pasividad de esta parte del mundo a la que pertenecemos, desde donde asistimos entre ignorantes y disimulados al infierno de la… Seguir leyendo
By Anna Husarska, senior policy adviser at the International Rescue Committee (THE WASHINGTON POST, 12/01/08):
The roads here are awful, partly because of perennial disrepair and partly because of a 2002 volcanic eruption that covered large areas of Goma with black lava. Now the town is the site of a major peace conference, so a few potholes were filled with sand. One can only hope that whatever results from this meeting has a firmer base.
The conference opened Sunday and is scheduled to end next week. Some 1,300 people are attending. Congolese television showed the inaugural speeches, full of hope.… Seguir leyendo
By Simon Tisdall (THE GUARDIAN, 19/12/07):
John le Carré’s latest novel, The Mission Song, describes an MI6-backed plot to mount a coup in the eastern Great Lakes region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). An anonymous business syndicate, eyeing the mineral riches of North and South Kivu provinces, encourages rival militia leaders to join forces under the auspices of a sinister populist, Mwangaza the Enlightener.The fictitious plotters’ idea is to throw off the authority of the “fat cats” in the far-off capital of Kinshasa, weaken Rwandan influence, and set up some sort of autonomous, ostensibly democratic state. But… Seguir leyendo
By Michael Gerson (THE WASHINGTON POST, 06/12/07):
Walungu – This village, surrounding a small Catholic church, is as far down the red dust road as you can go without entering territory controlled by the exiled perpetrators of Rwanda’s genocide. The rebels often come in civilian clothes to trade in Walungu’s open-air market. At other times they raid the nearby farms for supplies and women. The region is known as “the quarter of rape.”
In the shadow of the church is a facility run by Women for Women, an organization that matches international sponsors to local women in need of help.… Seguir leyendo
By Michael Gerson (THE WASHINGTON POST, 30/11/07):
BUKAVU, Rep. Dem. Congo — This is a town of stomach-jarring dirt streets, and fences topped with concertina wire, and charming lake vistas, and wandering goats, and burning trash, and cock crows, and soldiers with assault rifles, and banks of bougainvillea that reach two stories high. It is also a town with the world’s most brutal war just down the road.
At the center of Bukavu is a facility that houses and helps former child soldiers. One of the boys I met was 11. “They have killed,” explained one counselor, “and sometimes eaten… Seguir leyendo
Africa Briefing N° 44 (10/01/07):
OVERVIEW
On 6 December 2006, Joseph Kabila was sworn in as the first democratically elected president since Congolese independence, concluding a landmark electoral process largely devoid of major violence or gross irregularities. Democratic governance is now expected to support peacebuilding and reconstruction. The new government has weak and barely functioning institutions, however, and the international community, which has given decisive support to the peace process, must continue to help it overcome serious security and political challenges. Immediate agenda items include to set up promptly a new structure to coordinate aid efforts, renew the United Nations… Seguir leyendo
By Ishbel Matheson, the director of communications at Minority Rights Group International and a former BBC East Africa correspondent (THE TIMES, 21/11/06):
In the conflict-ridden, resource-rich heart of Africa, the horse-trading has begun. Jean-Pierre Bemba, the wealthy businessman-turned-rebel, has lost the first presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo for more than 40 years, and is crying foul. He is already challenging the result in the Supreme Court. But everyone knows that it won’t be the law that settles the issue, but raw power politics. Bemba controls the youth on Kinshasa’s volatile streets, and swaths of the north and… Seguir leyendo
Africa Briefing N°42 (CRISIS GROUP, 02/10/06):
OVERVIEW:
Hours before the first-round results of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s presidential elections were to be announced in Kinshasa on 20 August 2006, violence erupted between troops loyal to Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba and those loyal to the incumbent, Joseph Kabila, providing dramatic proof of the fragility of the electoral process. Because both Kabila and Bemba will be tempted to use violence should they lose the second round, and the former in particular is very strong militarily, the Congolese government and the international community must move quickly to make secure the run-off… Seguir leyendo
By Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, a journalist, recently traveled in Congo on a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and Rachel Stohl, a senior analyst at the World Security Institute’s Center for Defense Information. Mgmt. design is a graphic design studio. For more information on small arms, see www.cdi.org. Photographs, interviews and related material from Mvemba Dizolele’s reporting from Congo are available on the Congo project page of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting site (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 05/09/06):
Despite the presence of the world’s largest peacekeeping mission, the Democratic Republic of Congo remains in the grip of… Seguir leyendo
By Aidan Hartley, who has covered wars in Africa for two decades for television and newspapers, is the author of “The Zanzibar Chest,” a memoir (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 28/07/06):
Laikipia, Kenya.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo will hold its first legitimate elections in four decades on Sunday. The United Nations peacekeeping mission there has played the role of electoral midwife, so if the vote is free and fair it will be among the global body’s greatest successes on the continent.
But in eastern Congo, many people will be unable to vote because the fighting that has killed millions… Seguir leyendo
Por Javier Solana, Alto Representante de la Política Exterior y de Seguridad Común de la UE (EL CORREO DIGITAL, 26/07/06):
El África de hoy ve que sus grandes conflictos se aplacan; se democratiza; sus sociedades civiles emergen; sus mujeres participan cada vez más en la vida política; los derechos humanos se respetan en mayor medida. Una nueva generación, entregada al respeto del buen gobierno, tanto político como económico, toma en sus manos el destino de un continente que se estructura en torno a instituciones panafricanas renovadas.
Pero todavía quedan muchas cosas para hacer, sobre todo para fomentar el desarrollo económico… Seguir leyendo
Por Luis Peral, coordinador del Programa de Prevención y Resolución de Conflictos del Centro Internacional de Toledo para la Paz, e Investigador Ramón y Cajal adscrito al Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales. Este trabajo fue realizado mientras desempeñaba sus funciones como Investigador del Área de Paz y Seguridad de FRIDE (FRIDE, 22/07/06):
Resumen:
En la actualidad y durante los próximos meses, dos citas electorales concentran la atención internacional en la República Democrática del Congo (RDC). Pero a medio plazo, el esfuerzo internacional sigue centrado en fortalecer las todavía frágiles instituciones democráticas congoleñas y consolidar la paz. Naciones Unidas tiene,… Seguir leyendo