DRC polls marred by irregularities – Auspices for a hot post-electoral stew
Again – this is considered as a cautious attempt to comment on the Congolese electoral process. Yesterday’s presidential and parliamentary elections in Democratic Republic of Congo have been shattered by local outbreaks of violence and a general chaos due to several formal problems, amongst them non-registration of voters, fake registrations, uncertainty about where to vote, … Continue reading
Massive delays and violence in Congo Elections – Polls extended to make queued people vote
On the 28th of November 2011, the Democratic Republic of Congo has experienced its second democratic elections after 2006. In the following, I will try to give some cautious assessment of what has happened during that day, amended by some background information. While four years ago, the electoral process has been marked by a rivalry … Continue reading
Momentaufnahme: Wahltag in der Demokratischen Republik Kongo
Folgende Informationen wurden im Laufe des Tages von Radio Okapi, RFI, AL Jazeera English, der Wahlkommission CENI sowie kongolesischen Augenzeugen berichtet: Die Wahlbüros scheinen größtenteils ab 5/6 Uhr morgens geöffnet zu haben, zahlreiche Wahlbüros berichten von einer sehr hohen Wahlbeteiligung. In zahlreichen Wahlbüros gab es laut unterschiedlichen Quellen keine Wahlbeobachter, weder international noch national, sondern … Continue reading
An uncertain road: Election time in DR Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), recently characterised by ongoing political unrest and resource-driven civil wars, is approaching its second democratically displayed presidential and parliamentary elections. After many turbulences with regard to the independent national election commission (that shifted names from CEI to CENI) and issues concerning late and irregular registration of voters, the poll … 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
Research in Kinshasa & an odyssey to Goma. Or Bukavu!?
Intermediate stop: Bukavu. Not that I had planned to be there today, on 18th of October, but things happen sometimes in a surprising way here in DRC. To start correctly, on Saturday, 15th of October I was supposed to confirm my flight from Kinshasa to Goma, via Kisangani. After a couple of calls to the … Continue reading
Kinshasa Vol. III
Hey everybody. It is 6 days now, since I came back to Kinshasa and still I could not really get started with my very work. Things are as difficult as always here. The transoport chaos has even aggravated since huge road rehabilitation programmes had taken place in the forefront of 50th independence anniversary and I … Continue reading
A history of rape and murder
Latest news reported new mass rapes in the area of Walikale, a former stronghold of Nkunda’s CNDP militia in Eastern DR Congo. Some 20 months ago, a lot of hope was expressed after the detention of renegade General Laurent Nkunda by Rwandan military. In the meantime, several joint missions have been carried out by … Continue reading
Failed States Index 2010 – Same same, but different!?
Finally, I take the issuance of this year’s Failed States Index as an opportune occasion to start writing again. To have a short-cut introduction, for different reasons I did not manage to write earlier on this blog. First, I felt somewhat exhausted after all the reporting from my work in Haiti during January, February and … Continue reading
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