Term limits in central Africa: utility or artifact?
There is significant talk going on this year about presidential term limits, in particular around the approaching poll seasons in DRC, Congo-Brazzaville, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda. All five countries prescribe universal and direct elections. While Uganda is the only state without clearcut term limits, it has five-year terms like Burundi and DRC. Congo-Brazzaville and Rwanda have seven-year terms. Here is … Continue reading
« Cette opération va échouer, ce n’est ni la première ni la dernière »
(This is an anonymous guest post) Six mois passés, la Monusco avait annoncé dans les médias que, pourvue du mandant et de la résolution 2098, lui enjoignant de mettre fin à des groupes armés qu’ils soient nationaux ou étranger, avait fait des annonce d’une éventuelle traque contre les FDLR au cas où ceux-ci ne se … Continue reading
Burundi: after the coup attempt
This following article is a guest post by Gudrun Sif Fridriksdottir A month ago, on the 25th April the CNDD-FDD, the ruling party in Burundi, announced its presidential candidate for the upcoming elections scheduled for June 26. To nobody’s surprise the candidate was Pierre Nkurunziza, the current President who has already served for two terms. … Continue reading
Burundi today, or why people take to Bujumbura’s streets
The following article is a guest post by Dirk Gillebert Every day, new reports on Burundi come in. What is happening in the capital, what is the government doing, and what is the international community saying about it? Sometimes, we get a heart-breaking story from the refugee camps in Rwanda and Tanzania (for instance about … Continue reading
Nkurunziza 2.0: Burundi sailing into rough sea.
(Edited twice, translation of ‘imbonerakure’ on 25 April and info on demonstrations on 26 April) As expected by numerous Burundian and international observers, ruling CNDD-FDD has nominated incumbent president Pierre (‘Peter’) Nkurunziza as their presidential candidate for the upcoming June elections. A landslide win (sources report 93% to 100% of delegates’ votes) accompanied the official … Continue reading
Mathematiques Congolaises?
In 2008, Congolese writer In Koli Jean Bofane wrote a marvelous yet frightening novel on Kinshasa politics and the machinery of power in DRC. He follows protagonist Celio in his way from oscillating debroulliardeur to conspicious spin doctor involved in major media politics and spectacular coups in a pre-electoral Kinshasa that resembles to some part … Continue reading
Arithmetics of peacekeeping: MONUSCO’s mandate
As much an evergreen topic in the Congo than at Turtle Bay, the recurrent debate about peacekeeping in the DRC’s cycles of armed conflict will be reason for yet another high-level gathering in the UN Security Council on March 26, when a new MONUSCO resolution will most likely be decided after preceding consultations among troop-contributing … Continue reading
After UN-Kinshasa fallout, operations against FDLR begin in eastern DRC
(cross-published at African Arguments and modified/extended from IRIN, photo © Guy Oliver/IRIN) In early January 2015 joint operations between UN combat troops and Congolese soldiers against rebels who refused to disarm in eastern DRC were announced, repeatedly, as being imminent. The Congolese army – the FARDC – and MONUSCO’s Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) shared “a high level … Continue reading
Tracing the deadlock in dismantling FDLR
Imminent military operations against FDLR stir controversy in DRC On January 2nd, a six-months deadline set by regional political bodies SADC and ICGLR together with the Congolese government and MONUSCO for the self-demobilisation of the Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) run out. However, it did not trigger substantial results and the long-standing … Continue reading
A Chameleon army? Coherence, performance, discipline in Congo’s FARDC
Today, the New York Times Magazine published an online photo series of the late Sergeant Madot, a female FARDC member, one of the few holding an officer grade in the Congolese military’s elite units. Accompanying the great picture essay of Michael Christopher Brown, a photographer who spent considerably time in Eastern Congo lately, the magazine’s … Continue reading
suluhu.org 