Tumbling From The Cave

Apr 13

Learn something every day. Egypt has the majority of control over the Nile River. Now other nations want to share control. via @globalpost

Feb 17

“Ultimately, the canonical view of conflict minerals in the eastern DRC appears to have been created largely by Western activist groups such as the Enough Project, with very little input from the Congolese, and without sufficient attention to the contextualized and ultimately local ways in which violence plays out.” Money quote from Rachel Strohm that needs to be read widely.

Dec 14

A Crisis in the #Congo - By Mvemba Dizolele for @fp_magazine http://ow.ly/7YFuV HT @danatgu #DRC11

Dec 1

Young Congolese men check their names against the list of registered voters at the Jean Calvin College voting centre in Lubumbashi Nov. 27, the eve of DR Congo’s elections. The National Electoral Commission has registered over 32 million people to vote, choosing between over 18,000 parliamentary candidates nation-wide. (Phil Moore/AFP/Getty Images) #

Nov 30

“

So how did the voting go? The election was Janus-faced. On one hand, it was peaceful in most of the country, with what appeared to be relatively high turnout. I would wager than in 70-80% of polling stations, the elections went fairly well, even in many parts of Kinshasa. People I spoke with in Bukavu - and echoed by what my colleagues heard elsewhere in the country - were enthusiastic and highly motivated. I saw women queuing for hours in the sun with their infants, old men who had hobbled on their canes for miles to come to voting stations. Moving stuff.

The other face of the elections was ugly. There were hundreds of cases of election irregularities, many of which could have probably been avoided through more meticulous preparation…

” Jason Sterns reporting from the DRC on the elections. Read the entire post.

Nov 29

“Is violence inevitable in the Congo this week or in the weeks to come? Not necessarily. The country enjoys a distinct advantage over 2006 in that none of the major presidential candidates still maintain private armies, as was the case with Jean-Pierre Bemba’s MLC militia last time around. But politics in the country are still not settled on the basis of the rule of law, corruption is still rampant, and few feel that the electoral process reflects their wishes for the country’s future. These factors do not bode well for a peaceful electoral process.” Professor Laura Seay analyzing the elections in the DRC

Tumbling From The Cave

Tumbling, sharing and learning what is smart in aid and development.