I took some vacation days in Kivu, after three weeks of hard but fruitful work for our association in Kinshasa street children,
I was invited by a friend Congolese migrant solidarity activist in France, and whose father was pastor evangelist Bukavu, has done considerable work in As leader of the Pentecostal fellowship of churches in the Congo (Cepac) and with the help of Sweden: a university, with 5 disciplines and 40 buildings, a hospital in Panzi designed to Swedish, one of the three health facilities in Bukavu, or are cared for moms raped by armed groups, and surgery is practiced or high level on the Fistola hospital in Addis Ababa and visited or Rama Yade in June
The eldest son is a pastor in France, leader of a group of Church of FRC, it is with the Reformed Church France,
It was built with the active help of his family at a private clinic almost two quality. He managed a partnership with two French hospitals, the whole family is involved.
I take this short but exceptional stay to pick what information
Kivu
I was invited by a friend Congolese migrant solidarity activist in France, and whose father was pastor evangelist Bukavu, has done considerable work in As leader of the Pentecostal fellowship of churches in the Congo (Cepac) and with the help of Sweden: a university, with 5 disciplines and 40 buildings, a hospital in Panzi designed to Swedish, one of the three health facilities in Bukavu, or are cared for moms raped by armed groups, and surgery is practiced or high level on the Fistola hospital in Addis Ababa and visited or Rama Yade in June
The eldest son is a pastor in France, leader of a group of Church of FRC, it is with the Reformed Church France,
It was built with the active help of his family at a private clinic almost two quality. He managed a partnership with two French hospitals, the whole family is involved.
I take this short but exceptional stay to pick what information
Kivu
Kivu is situated 2000 km east of Kinshasa is a beautiful mountainous region with eight volcanoes 4500m peak has an area of large lakes, among the deepest in the world,
border region with Rwanda and Burundi, fertile area, but unfortunately also the transition region facing many armed groups since 1996.
Armed groups
So there is unfortunately a reality of war with its barbaric aspects.
Here on the photograph shows the Goma refugee who fled before the troops of General Laurent Nkunda, a Tutsi Congolese of Rwandan language, pretending to protect Congolese Tutsis of Rwandan Hutu atrocities of the FDLR in 1994 genocide, in revolt against the Republic of Congo in Kinshasa and funded by Kagame, now Rwanda's president, and some mining operations.
The refugees arrived at the site a month ago, but recent events are further aggravated the situation, they would be 400 to 600 000 refugees in the region) (1)
"We sent one of our in recognition to verify the possibility of returning to our village and he killed, yet here we are getting no help "we told our correspondents
Interhahamwe The FDLR, former genocidal Rwandan Hutu
observation satellite can see they are moving increasingly towards the settlement and agricultural activity. They sell their production at mining sites, located outside the means of access road, and are virtually inaccessible to regular armed forces.
The Baniamulinge, Congolese of Rwandan language
We know that presidential candidates have attempted to inflame ethnic rivalries for influence during the poll, the same phenomenon seems to occur in the Kivu A Belgian journalist for Reuters told me he ranked as major cause of insecurity EAST current attitude toward the govern Baniamulinge. What the sets
denied the president of the province of Kivu, Mr. Emile Kadudu, with whom we had dinner with my friends and the Jesuits, observers warned and courageous, has encountered BUKAVU
For them it is Kagame who still stimulates rivalry with Baniamulege, installed in Uvira, for reasons poorly understood, any annexation of this territory is today ' Today out of reach
The community leaders have disassociated themselves completely Baniamulinge acts of war Kunda
When est'il rape of war?
War and wartime rape, which made him famous in the region, are much less intense than before but more diffuse, they are the result of both the regular army FARDC that armed groups, or even civilians or soldiers drift
The three medical centers in Bukavu and Goma treat all women raped but
n is more flooding, the president of the province had the intellectual curiosity to visit the center Panzi, two days before an official visit by the media, and found only two mothers in care fistula as a result of rape during the official visit, the hospital was plain sick of fake crack was, this manipulation has outraged the public, and late September it was reported that people threw stones at the hospital.
The behavior of the regular army is worrying
just before I arrived in Bukavu, the XIV Brigade stationed at Kabara, 3 km from the city, tied up the residents of the village and looted their homes, the brigade was being homelessness, presumably without pay, following a military defeat.
During the offensive against Nkunda, the army came to the market sale of cattle stolen Goma
Institutional reform military justice policy is a priority and part of Shares of French and European cooperation, but the current situation seems out of control, according to caritas, Kinshasa is unable to say how many soldiers consists army.
This army is poorly equipped, poorly trained, he happens to fly in combat while in front Nkunda's troops are ready to die, it collides with the low pay that keeps soldiers to eat their fill without snowshoes population. One program of cooperation is to secure the circuit soldiers' pay. My friends told me about a soldier whose mission is to keep the road Alumni généocidaires Rwandans, and put a bowl on the road, travelers have to leave food in passing its own power supply.
UN
She received a political mandate that allows it to seek the enemy, it seems rather that she avoids when it does not find some agreement with him, she civilian population evident anger and late September he was throwing stones.
From the Jesuits, it was taken once in the act of withdrawal at the announcement of an attack, denouncing the withdrawal had led to the mutation responsible
The complexity of the situation
The complexity of problems and the lack of sources made reliable, generated differing views
The president-elect of the province denied the reality of war in August, and then thought that was sought to give an impression to achieve dramatic views and set the international solidarity
The Jesuits believe the situation is not under military control and still worrying
It is surprising to learn that Kabila gave the order to stop the offensive against Laurent Nkunda's troops, triggered by December 2007, when she succeeded, or even to learn that some of the Staff of the FARC is from the RCD Goma therefore a priori close to the enemy, whom he married one time goals, or General deemed that this farm was transferred to the lower Congo
Or that it has continued to fight during the negotiations of Goma in January 2008, negotiations which did not Rwanda, yet key player in the conflict ....
The impression is given of an uncontrolled situation even deliberately kept neither peace nor war, which some benefit.
Civilians bear with courage
I already knew the heroism of mothers in Kinshasa, who give up eating to feed their children, while keeping a smile, I met one in Goma heroic doctor, SD, who agrees to go into treatment area controlled by rebel forces in plain forest, 250 km south of Goma, and $ 100 in salary, for him there is not really end to this conflict and the recent political agreement has not produced the expected effects
he told me that the gunmen could enter his room at night and ask him plain immediately treat veterans without paying recess
It has been 3 years since he leads the health area of 12 units, at the request of the country's health administration, he said he only now beginning to be accepted by all belligerents Mai-Mai (local militia) Interhahamwe (Rwandan Hutu killers) and owes its protection only to the psychological expertise.
Safety zones exist
Goma and Bukavu, who have known war on several occasions, have now become tranquil towns, the climate is temperate, the highly fertile, poverty a little less because of border trade incentives, many NGOs, even luxury, which seems problematic. The Jesuits were evaluated by 60 NGOs said, and did not give validation to 15 of them
MONUC, the UN military force, seems to put the shelter has more than preparing for the battle, she a very bad reputation, is sometimes taken to task by people unhappy, and was even taken even in the act, to relieve the garrison on the eve of an announcement of the enemy offensive in Bukavu, Section effective press Jesuit recounting their failure has toured Europe before returning to the Congo and led to the transfer of responsibility without further comment.
Despite its limitations, the price of one billion dollars annually, it is useful to prevent the region from becoming a kind of Somalia
One of the first problem is the control of Congo's mining
How to generate resources to sustain the necessary institutions in a big country. While the basement, still unexplored, and ore is already considered one of the best in the world (copper (10% of reserves global), cobalt (34% of the world), diamonds, oil, uranium, gold, Coltrane, gas) But the foundation of good management are not yet posed: there is no mining cadastre in Kivu, so no title to mining, the current mining code, imposed by the World Bank in 2002 does not provide legal taxes on the extraction of minerals, but an incentive to capital, and strong incentives for privatization operation.
33% of Congolese territory was granted to 642 companies, essentially it is fair agreements without content or barter, no real cons parties for the State
The lack of tax is dramatic for the country's budget (compared to Niger's civil society has obtained an increase in tax on uranium ore which rose from $ 15 to $ 150 ton from AREVA (11000 110 000 FCFA FCFA) information was given to me directly by a union leader met with university of Nantes CSIR
sites are often abandoned and exploited by individual researchers, often accompanied by children, these miners risk their lives to earn 2-4 dollars per day, without even finding enough to eat locally in an environment no roads, no farms, no administration. They would be 150 000 in Katanga Mining
The agreement with the Chinese, debated in parliament, consisted of an extensive barter, infrastructure financing cons of franchises
The land mine issue is very sensitive politically, the adviser to the Prime Minister in charge of this dossier, was murdered, a former Belgian colonel came appraise a diamond mine in Kasai, which went bankrupt, was expelled after a few suggested remedies to the authorities.
The public is convinced that the authorities are using, what did was belied by any of my interlocutors informed.
There still progress in small steps: the contents of 61 mining contracts was published, a study commission Ministerial obtained its enlarged at the request of civilian actors, published its report, also by the pressure civil society, reform of the code should eventually be on the agenda, it is planned to give 51% share of new companies
TO THE STATE BUKAVU a scientific commission, called the Office of Scientific and Technical Studies ( BEST), interfaith, headed by a Jesuit-funded university Montreal Canadiens, will conduct field surveys
Presumably it is through control of the mines that the country can recover, to redress its finances and pay his administration
This therefore gives priority to supporting its meaning to bring to this commission BUKAVU
a plea to end the war
In France an official of CCFD, told me: "War will stop when the MONUC mandate control of mining areas, but three states opposed to this mandate: China, Rwanda, Congo DRC itself, "
a civilian member of MONUC in Kinshasa, confirmed that about my
we would have a situation of no war, no peace that would benefit a few and would live the great mass of people in inhumane conditions among the worst in the world
Misery
C ' is the true subject of that country, income per capita is $ 93 per year (2), against $ 900 for East Africa, Madagascar 246, 322 in Mali, the country is about 177 for 168me the human development index, where the country has returned to growth, people suffer and see absolutely nothing changed, the construction of a road section is one such event that happens on television National.
nuns told me that they lived in the Congo was worse than they lived in Madagascar, and much worse than in West Africa. My neighbor has
N'Djili district of Kinshasa or live in each of my trips, was living alone with three children, selling a stock of coal valued at $ 10, her friend had for sale that peanuts, I found them huddled late into the night along the street sleeping ...
Corruption
The fourth major problem of the DRC (with misery, insecurity Civil and mining) is corruption, this is one of the five points raised by the Congolese bishops' conference, in a note read in all churches of the Congo in July. The country is 168me of 180 under the index of corruption perceived by business circles, according to Transparency International.
This corruption is old and dates back to practices that court had under Mobutu, it massively affects the institutions whose employees are very weak or non-paid (50 to 70 dollars for a policeman and a soldier)
Two trials are underway in Kinshasa, one for misuse of state budget of over a billion dollars by the financial governance of a group of public institutions, the other teachers on the payroll of an entire region
past chiefs controlled and shared predation but no longer do so, and employees and modest rank must fend
As Edith told me in Kinshasa, honest people do exist, they are a minority, a minority that is not protected.
In Kinshasa we saw that the police were not severely controlled and snowshoeing women vendors, mother of street children reunified we follow, we have arrested the Director General of Social Affairs in Kinshasa, "talk to your colleagues: what does the police? street children they should live with their families or on the street, we find that moms who pay taxes on trade, racket are a dollar each day, "I see the faces of children on the trail of the evil nutrition, and tomorrow they will return to the streets or they will eat a little better "He remained silent.
Besides corruption ago injustices: a member earns $ 5,000 a month, they are all equipped with beautiful 4 * 4, a scholar wins $ 100, when his colleague from Cote d'Ivoire wins $ 1,500. Congolese people we met were very sensitive to these issues, often angry, I did not sense of resignation.
Female victims traditions
There are also women who are victims of patriarchal traditions, and who suffer
marriage arranged by families, confinement at home, domestic work and expense to support the family. This applies to our mothers in Kinshasa, it is also the case in the Kivu
conclusion
The fittest applies of course but the root causes of poverty are of First within the country
The natural law of humanity, the law of the strongest, between rich and poor, between the West and the South, between the healthy and the disabled, among the powerful and the humble men and women ...
A movement of civilization is working, conscientious, control and cooperation can make the earth habitable for all, based on respect, on the right of the poor, the right the minority, the right of poor nations, women's rights, the right of the child, as a compensation accord with civilizing mission to the dignity of human beings
It is possible to tackle the real causes of misery is a sacred duty, it is an act of humanity
Often my Congolese friends believed that the misfortunes of the DRC were due to the behavior of the West, I answered them, certainly the the West applies the law of the strongest, with the conditionalities laid around the odious debt, right now, for example by renegotiating the agreements of the ACP, but look, the Boswana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, all these countries under the same pressure to grow vigorously and are already beyond recognition, comparison of indices of GDP per capita and per year is overwhelming for DRC: 93, Mauritius: $ 4649 $ 4339 Botswana, Namibia $ 2246, $ 1100 Congo Brazzaville, Cameroon: $ 642, the country is the latest in the world for the business climate of According to Doing Business, the real causes of poverty are primarily internal to the country.
(1) at the time of this writing, the conflict has not yet resumed
Archbishop of Bukavu, Mg Maroy, wrote to the Embassy of France in late August to report massive infiltration Soldiers from Rwanda
(2) it is $ 33 000 per capita and not year for developed countries
When est'il rape of war?
War and wartime rape, which made him famous in the region, are much less intense than before but more diffuse, they are the result of both the regular army FARDC that armed groups, or even civilians or soldiers drift
The three medical centers in Bukavu and Goma treat all women raped but
n is more flooding, the president of the province had the intellectual curiosity to visit the center Panzi, two days before an official visit by the media, and found only two mothers in care fistula as a result of rape during the official visit, the hospital was plain sick of fake crack was, this manipulation has outraged the public, and late September it was reported that people threw stones at the hospital.
The behavior of the regular army is worrying
just before I arrived in Bukavu, the XIV Brigade stationed at Kabara, 3 km from the city, tied up the residents of the village and looted their homes, the brigade was being homelessness, presumably without pay, following a military defeat.
During the offensive against Nkunda, the army came to the market sale of cattle stolen Goma
Institutional reform military justice policy is a priority and part of Shares of French and European cooperation, but the current situation seems out of control, according to caritas, Kinshasa is unable to say how many soldiers consists army.
This army is poorly equipped, poorly trained, he happens to fly in combat while in front Nkunda's troops are ready to die, it collides with the low pay that keeps soldiers to eat their fill without snowshoes population. One program of cooperation is to secure the circuit soldiers' pay. My friends told me about a soldier whose mission is to keep the road Alumni généocidaires Rwandans, and put a bowl on the road, travelers have to leave food in passing its own power supply.
UN
She received a political mandate that allows it to seek the enemy, it seems rather that she avoids when it does not find some agreement with him, she civilian population evident anger and late September he was throwing stones.
From the Jesuits, it was taken once in the act of withdrawal at the announcement of an attack, denouncing the withdrawal had led to the mutation responsible
The complexity of the situation
The complexity of problems and the lack of sources made reliable, generated differing views
The president-elect of the province denied the reality of war in August, and then thought that was sought to give an impression to achieve dramatic views and set the international solidarity
The Jesuits believe the situation is not under military control and still worrying
It is surprising to learn that Kabila gave the order to stop the offensive against Laurent Nkunda's troops, triggered by December 2007, when she succeeded, or even to learn that some of the Staff of the FARC is from the RCD Goma therefore a priori close to the enemy, whom he married one time goals, or General deemed that this farm was transferred to the lower Congo
Or that it has continued to fight during the negotiations of Goma in January 2008, negotiations which did not Rwanda, yet key player in the conflict ....
The impression is given of an uncontrolled situation even deliberately kept neither peace nor war, which some benefit.
Civilians bear with courage
I already knew the heroism of mothers in Kinshasa, who give up eating to feed their children, while keeping a smile, I met one in Goma heroic doctor, SD, who agrees to go into treatment area controlled by rebel forces in plain forest, 250 km south of Goma, and $ 100 in salary, for him there is not really end to this conflict and the recent political agreement has not produced the expected effects
he told me that the gunmen could enter his room at night and ask him plain immediately treat veterans without paying recess
It has been 3 years since he leads the health area of 12 units, at the request of the country's health administration, he said he only now beginning to be accepted by all belligerents Mai-Mai (local militia) Interhahamwe (Rwandan Hutu killers) and owes its protection only to the psychological expertise.
Safety zones exist
Goma and Bukavu, who have known war on several occasions, have now become tranquil towns, the climate is temperate, the highly fertile, poverty a little less because of border trade incentives, many NGOs, even luxury, which seems problematic. The Jesuits were evaluated by 60 NGOs said, and did not give validation to 15 of them
MONUC, the UN military force, seems to put the shelter has more than preparing for the battle, she a very bad reputation, is sometimes taken to task by people unhappy, and was even taken even in the act, to relieve the garrison on the eve of an announcement of the enemy offensive in Bukavu, Section effective press Jesuit recounting their failure has toured Europe before returning to the Congo and led to the transfer of responsibility without further comment.
Despite its limitations, the price of one billion dollars annually, it is useful to prevent the region from becoming a kind of Somalia
One of the first problem is the control of Congo's mining
How to generate resources to sustain the necessary institutions in a big country. While the basement, still unexplored, and ore is already considered one of the best in the world (copper (10% of reserves global), cobalt (34% of the world), diamonds, oil, uranium, gold, Coltrane, gas) But the foundation of good management are not yet posed: there is no mining cadastre in Kivu, so no title to mining, the current mining code, imposed by the World Bank in 2002 does not provide legal taxes on the extraction of minerals, but an incentive to capital, and strong incentives for privatization operation.
33% of Congolese territory was granted to 642 companies, essentially it is fair agreements without content or barter, no real cons parties for the State
The lack of tax is dramatic for the country's budget (compared to Niger's civil society has obtained an increase in tax on uranium ore which rose from $ 15 to $ 150 ton from AREVA (11000 110 000 FCFA FCFA) information was given to me directly by a union leader met with university of Nantes CSIR
sites are often abandoned and exploited by individual researchers, often accompanied by children, these miners risk their lives to earn 2-4 dollars per day, without even finding enough to eat locally in an environment no roads, no farms, no administration. They would be 150 000 in Katanga Mining
The agreement with the Chinese, debated in parliament, consisted of an extensive barter, infrastructure financing cons of franchises
The land mine issue is very sensitive politically, the adviser to the Prime Minister in charge of this dossier, was murdered, a former Belgian colonel came appraise a diamond mine in Kasai, which went bankrupt, was expelled after a few suggested remedies to the authorities.
The public is convinced that the authorities are using, what did was belied by any of my interlocutors informed.
There still progress in small steps: the contents of 61 mining contracts was published, a study commission Ministerial obtained its enlarged at the request of civilian actors, published its report, also by the pressure civil society, reform of the code should eventually be on the agenda, it is planned to give 51% share of new companies
TO THE STATE BUKAVU a scientific commission, called the Office of Scientific and Technical Studies ( BEST), interfaith, headed by a Jesuit-funded university Montreal Canadiens, will conduct field surveys
Presumably it is through control of the mines that the country can recover, to redress its finances and pay his administration
This therefore gives priority to supporting its meaning to bring to this commission BUKAVU
a plea to end the war
In France an official of CCFD, told me: "War will stop when the MONUC mandate control of mining areas, but three states opposed to this mandate: China, Rwanda, Congo DRC itself, "
a civilian member of MONUC in Kinshasa, confirmed that about my
we would have a situation of no war, no peace that would benefit a few and would live the great mass of people in inhumane conditions among the worst in the world
Misery
C ' is the true subject of that country, income per capita is $ 93 per year (2), against $ 900 for East Africa, Madagascar 246, 322 in Mali, the country is about 177 for 168me the human development index, where the country has returned to growth, people suffer and see absolutely nothing changed, the construction of a road section is one such event that happens on television National.
nuns told me that they lived in the Congo was worse than they lived in Madagascar, and much worse than in West Africa. My neighbor has
N'Djili district of Kinshasa or live in each of my trips, was living alone with three children, selling a stock of coal valued at $ 10, her friend had for sale that peanuts, I found them huddled late into the night along the street sleeping ...
Corruption
The fourth major problem of the DRC (with misery, insecurity Civil and mining) is corruption, this is one of the five points raised by the Congolese bishops' conference, in a note read in all churches of the Congo in July. The country is 168me of 180 under the index of corruption perceived by business circles, according to Transparency International.
This corruption is old and dates back to practices that court had under Mobutu, it massively affects the institutions whose employees are very weak or non-paid (50 to 70 dollars for a policeman and a soldier)
Two trials are underway in Kinshasa, one for misuse of state budget of over a billion dollars by the financial governance of a group of public institutions, the other teachers on the payroll of an entire region
past chiefs controlled and shared predation but no longer do so, and employees and modest rank must fend
As Edith told me in Kinshasa, honest people do exist, they are a minority, a minority that is not protected.
In Kinshasa we saw that the police were not severely controlled and snowshoeing women vendors, mother of street children reunified we follow, we have arrested the Director General of Social Affairs in Kinshasa, "talk to your colleagues: what does the police? street children they should live with their families or on the street, we find that moms who pay taxes on trade, racket are a dollar each day, "I see the faces of children on the trail of the evil nutrition, and tomorrow they will return to the streets or they will eat a little better "He remained silent.
Besides corruption ago injustices: a member earns $ 5,000 a month, they are all equipped with beautiful 4 * 4, a scholar wins $ 100, when his colleague from Cote d'Ivoire wins $ 1,500. Congolese people we met were very sensitive to these issues, often angry, I did not sense of resignation.
Female victims traditions
There are also women who are victims of patriarchal traditions, and who suffer
marriage arranged by families, confinement at home, domestic work and expense to support the family. This applies to our mothers in Kinshasa, it is also the case in the Kivu
conclusion
The fittest applies of course but the root causes of poverty are of First within the country
The natural law of humanity, the law of the strongest, between rich and poor, between the West and the South, between the healthy and the disabled, among the powerful and the humble men and women ...
A movement of civilization is working, conscientious, control and cooperation can make the earth habitable for all, based on respect, on the right of the poor, the right the minority, the right of poor nations, women's rights, the right of the child, as a compensation accord with civilizing mission to the dignity of human beings
It is possible to tackle the real causes of misery is a sacred duty, it is an act of humanity
Often my Congolese friends believed that the misfortunes of the DRC were due to the behavior of the West, I answered them, certainly the the West applies the law of the strongest, with the conditionalities laid around the odious debt, right now, for example by renegotiating the agreements of the ACP, but look, the Boswana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, all these countries under the same pressure to grow vigorously and are already beyond recognition, comparison of indices of GDP per capita and per year is overwhelming for DRC: 93, Mauritius: $ 4649 $ 4339 Botswana, Namibia $ 2246, $ 1100 Congo Brazzaville, Cameroon: $ 642, the country is the latest in the world for the business climate of According to Doing Business, the real causes of poverty are primarily internal to the country.
(1) at the time of this writing, the conflict has not yet resumed
Archbishop of Bukavu, Mg Maroy, wrote to the Embassy of France in late August to report massive infiltration Soldiers from Rwanda
(2) it is $ 33 000 per capita and not year for developed countries
