Big Victory as M23 surrenders, but not an End to Congo’s Travails
This analysis was first published on the International Peace Institute’s Global Observatory at: http://www.theglobalobservatory.org/analysis/617-in-drc-one-militia-m23-down-49-more-to-go.html This week, almost a year after the March 23 movement (M23) briefly occupied Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a series of joint operations between the Congolese army and the UN peacekeeping mission’s intervention brigade finally led to adecisive victory over the rebel … Continue reading
No more M23. The end of an era? And what’s next?
Few hours after the first rumours (initial public source seems to have been North Kivu governor Julien Paluku) announced the capture of Runyoni and Cyanzu by UN-backed FARDC troops (Mbuzi, the third hill under M23 control during the last week has been taken some 24-48 hours before). On November 5 early in the morning, the … Continue reading
Notes on the panoply of armed movements in the Congo
Given the multitude of armed groups operating in Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) eastern provinces, it is not always very easy to identify their objectives, leaders, and backers. Among numerous publications, the Rift Valley Institute’s Usalama Project provides some of the best analyses for the major groups, individuals, their history, motivations, and political reasonings. … Continue reading
Eastern Congo’s recent troubles: who pulls the strings, what is at stake, and why do things happen?
Considered an overview, this piece combines a wide range of events, observations, and consequent thoughts on the current situation in the eastern DRC. Focussing on M23 rebels, DRC government, and the UN mission it will also take into account main other dynamics and actors. (This article originally appeared in African Arguments, http://africanarguments.org/2013/09/05/eastern-congos-recent-troubles-who-pulls-the-strings-what-is-at-stake-and-why-do-things-happen-by-christophe-vogel/) An accumulation of events … Continue reading
Tricky limbo in eastern Congo
Tough times for the MONUSCO Force Intervention Brigade. Put up by the UN Security council’s latest mandate almost half a year ago, this offensive arm of the largest peacekeeping mission worldwide is tasked to “neutralise” armed groups in eastern Congo. A daunting job, not least because the latter are at an estimated number of 50 … Continue reading
North Kivu braces for potential UN-armed group clashes
(appeared first on 2 August 2013 at IRIN) A UN ultimatum for armed groups around Goma, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) North Kivu Province, to disarm, expired on 1 August and a security zone has been set up around the city. Goma is calm, but civilians, aid agencies and NGOs wait nervously … 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
Writing experiment: Trying an everyone’s read of Congo…
… in less than 1500 words, reducing complexity as much as possible without skewing facts. All that, to favour readability with the aim of making the below essay comprehensible for whichever reader with or without preexisting Congo knowledge. Disclaimer: My last articles have sparked an interesting amount of critique, most of which was favourable from … Continue reading
Does Congo confusion transform into communication chaos?
Today has been marred by Congo coverage of its most confuse way. Time to wrap up things: Yesterday saw MONUSCO’s announcement of a security zone and the concomitant (possible) first deployment of the new Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) of UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO. A few facts to clarify a profusion of information and disinformation: The security zone … Continue reading
Is MONUSCO’s intervention brigade up to show some teeth?
This noon, MONUSCO, under its new force commander Dos Santos Cruz, MONUSCO announced a countdown of 48 hours, to end Thursday, 1 August at 4pm Goma time, for all “individuals who are not members of the national security forces and who carries a firearm” (sic!). According to the MONUSCO communiqué, a currently defined “security zone” largely includes … Continue reading
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