Archivo etiqueta «República Democrática del Congo»
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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … Seguir leyendo
Africa Report N°114 (CRISIS GROUP, 210/07/06):
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s strides toward peace could prove short-lived if the government and donors do not increase efforts to create a transparent and accountable government. State institutions such as parliament, courts, the army and the civil service remain weak and corrupt. The national elections scheduled for 30 July 2006 risk creating a large class of disenfranchised politicians and former warlords tempted to take advantage of state weakness and launch new insurgencies. Donors must initiate new programs in support of good governance that include more funding to strengthen state institutions (in … Seguir leyendo
Por Josep F. Mària, jesuita y profesor de Esade (LA VANGUARDIA, 07/07/06):
A finales de este mes hay elecciones en la República Democrática de Congo. No son unas elecciones cualesquiera en un país cualquiera. Son las primeras elecciones democráticas después de 40 años de la dictadura de Mobutu (1965-1997), y de dos terribles guerras (1996-1997 y 1998-2003) que han dejado cerca de cuatro millones de muertos. Tampoco se trata de un país cualquiera. Con una superficie equivalente a toda Europa occidental, sus fronteras con nueve estados lo han convertido en una tierra de acogida de refugiados, algunos de los … Seguir leyendo
Africa Report N°112 (CRISIS GROUP, 29/06/06):
Countries in crisis and the wider international community must do much more to support women’s involvement in solving Africa’s deadliest conflicts. In Sudan, Congo and Uganda, an array of women’s organisations and leaders are doing remarkable work, under difficult circumstances, especially in community organisations and informal conflict resolution mechanisms. Still, women remain marginalised in formal peace processes and post-conflict governments. Donors and others in the international community all need to do much more to offer sustainable support rather than just rhetoric. It is not merely a question of fairness or equity: women make a … Seguir leyendo
Africa Report N°108 (CRISIS GROUP, 27/04/06):
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
As the Congo approaches its first free elections in 40 years, the stability of the country remains at risk, for three main reasons. First, one of the main former rebel groups, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), is unpopular and stands to lose most of its power at the polls: this has triggered a resurgence of violence in the east, which is likely to intensify before and after elections, as dissident RCD troops attack the newly integrated national army. Secondly, the vote has not been adequately prepared. With few safeguards … Seguir leyendo
By Oona King. He is founding chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region and former Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow (THE GUARDIAN, 19/04/06):
Genocide in Rwanda had been under way for 48 hours when 36-year-old Monique was told by a friend she would be killed. Monique fled, but her 12-year-old niece, Geraldine, was raped that night, and took years to die. “Aids is the second genocide,” says Monique, who lost 27 members of her close family in 1994. That doesn’t include her grandfather, who was murdered in 1963; her aunt, raped and … Seguir leyendo
Africa Report N°104 (CRISIS GROUP, 13/02/06):
No issue is more important than security sector reform in determining the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s prospects for peace and development. Two particular challenges loom large: the security services must be able to maintain order during the national elections scheduled for April 2006 and reduce the country’s staggering mortality rate from the conflict – still well over 30,000 every month. On the military side, far more must be done to create an effective, unified army with a single chain of command, rather than simply demobilising militias and giving ex-combatants payout packages. International attention … Seguir leyendo