Congo’s immobilised demobilisation programme
Yesterday, various Congolese media reported the surrender of ‘Gen.’ Justin Banaloki (also known as ‘Cobra Matata’), military leader of the Ituri-based Front de Resistance Patriotique d’Ituri (FRPI). FRPI is one of the most long-standing militias in eastern Congo, created as early as in 2002 among the Ngiti community around German Katanga, allying to the Lendu-centred … Continue reading
Argumentative techniques in the ‘conflict minerals’ debate
The Enough Project, one of the major lobbyists in favour of Dodd Frank Section 1502, has gathered 27 other signatories to co-publish another reply (after 28 Congolese Kivutian civil society organisations and PACT) to the open letter published by 72 Congolese and international stakeholders in September 2014 (For further details, see – among many others … Continue reading
Peaceland – A review of Séverine Autesserre’s latest book
Peaceland – Conflict Resolution and the Everyday Politics of International Intervention A review of Séverine Autesserre’s newly published book Recently, a Congolese friend of mine taught me how to use condoms to clean your shoes before going out. On average, it takes three condoms per shoe and you come out classy within a few minutes. … Continue reading
‘Conflict Minerals’ – An Open Letter
Over a few months, we have been working on de-mystifying the discourses on so-called “conflict minerals” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to constructively but critically assess the policy response these discourses have provoked so far. The outcome is a letter signed by 70 Congolese and international observers. In the following paragraphs, first published with … Continue reading
Third and revised mapping of armed actors in eastern DRC
With a slight delay, a new version of the armed actors mapping has now been launched and can be found here & here respectively. At a first glance, it does not entail major changes, but a closer look shows how recent military operations (especially those involving MONUSCO’s Force Intervention Brigade) have impacted on the region’s conflict landscape. … Continue reading
Without Precedent or Prejudice? UNSC Resolution 2098 and its potential implications for humanitarian space in Eastern Congo and beyond
Without Precedent or Prejudice? UNSC Resolution 2098 and its potential implications for humanitarian space in Eastern Congo and beyond This article originally appeared in the Journal of Humanitarian Assistance in January 2014, co-written with Katharine Derderian and Aurelie Ponthieu (see http://sites.tufts.edu/jha/archives/2032). It is based on three months in-depth fieldwork in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Kinshasa, … Continue reading
The drama of post-colonial governance in contemporary African politics
Today’s global discourses feature a large variety of thoughts relating to current governance in many places in the world. In an age of globalisation and concurrent modes of governance, statehood, administration, and society organisation have emerged. The African continent, despite its massive variety of political culture and governance modes, prominently shows up as a place … Continue reading
Kony 2012 revisited: A short bibliography on opinions worth taking into account
Without any longer comment, a couple of pieces (in random order) I may not all endorse at a 100% but I deem absolutely worth and important to read when it comes to the phenomenon of the Kony2012 campaign by Invisible Children finding its continuation in yesterday released “Move“ video: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/?single_page=true by Teju Cole http://www.warscapes.com/reportage/not-click-away-joseph-kony-real-world by … Continue reading
As Goma trembles, M23 invigorates and different actors explore their options
Before beginning a new post, I kindly ask all readers to apologise for the second last post as some of the tentative statements I made therein do not seem to be confirmed until further notice. Contrarily, some connections I spoke about proved to be not that substantial and others escaped my knowledge at that time. … Continue reading
Impressions from Goma and Bukavu
Greetings from Bukavu again. For the whole week iit was very difficult to obtain access to internet, since our schedule has been that tight for even the nights must be restricted to some 4 or 5 hours of sleep. The advantage in that was the fact that none of us had to go to appointments … Continue reading
suluhu.org 