Building Natural Resource Management

Peace and governance in the Democratic Republic of Congo will improve with the capability of natural resource management. With competing interests of foreign economies, internal corruption and neglect of local populations, natural resources are not capable of being managed or quantified. With the global demand for the basin’s resources, and the global value for providing a massive carbon sink and maintaining the hydrological cycle, it is in long term interests of all stakeholders to build capacity to manage natural resources. Stability for the whole region is affected by these resources.
This can only be achieved with donating contingent on goals being met. Some European countries are throwing huge amounts of cash at the Congo Basin with little clear plan. As carbon becomes a legitimate market, huge money transactions will involve DRC, but it will be foolish to throw money at a state just to say you did…I think the US is taking a very pragmatic approach here, and really could not handle the huge funds Europe is talking about. Funding the state doesn’t work here yet, its failed time and again, and without clear goals, monitoring, and adaptive management, donating is doomed to profit few and harm many. Lets hope donors plan and harmonize with other stakeholders in the region for the sake of practical results rather than self-preservation.

http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=17604
http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=17606

Links about situation in the East DRC

The fragile East:

Repatriation efforts for Rwandan FDLR rebels
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7432186.stm

Nkunda's rebels
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/world/africa/
10congo.html?fta=y

DRC, Uganda and South Sudan prepare for battle with LRA
http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=17576

In other news, some other interns for State Dept. and USAID arrived. It is great to have some people in my peer group and similar life/work situation. I am enjoying learning from my intelligent, helpful, and dedicated coworkers who have built CARPE into the the top regional environmental program. It's well-spent USG money that should have a great impact on conservation efforts - incorporating people's livelihoods as primary consideration. Without that conservation can be harmful.

Dispatch from the "Field"

My Kin Ticker:
14 days in!
12 swimming/nature viewing sessions at the pool - nature being palm & banana trees, kingfishers, birds, and low-flying bats!
14 evenings enjoying a porch!
9 lunches at the New Aladin Lebanese restaurant - expat hotspot
1 lunch at the ambassador residence (2+ to come)
1 French tutoring session with Mr. Jules
6 acquaintances named Jacques
5 acquaintances named Jean
~25 rides with drivers who obligingly help me practice French
1 "goat-bar" dinner...you pick the goat pieces and while they cook, enjoy Primus beer and street-hawkers selling boiled peanuts
12 pictures taken...Kinois don't like cameras much!
1 car-pedestrian accident sighting - the flashmob didn't get too angry, the driver stopped, the woman looked ok, and the driver drove her to the hospital
0 sickness:)
3- times being called "Mondele, Blanche or American"; pretty conservative!! maybe I just don't understand!
333- times I wished I spoke French!!!!
4 times seeing nearly a whole car being hauled down the road in a wheelbarrow
6 scenarios dreamt for how to get from here to Uganda in August:)
3 sightings of the massive Congo river!

Bemba and the ICC

At English club, the topic university students discussed was the arrest of Jean Pierre Bemba and its consequences. Bemba's family is from nearby Kinshasa, worth 100s of millions from Mobutu-era cronyism. He was an "opposition" rebel during the 2nd Congo War (1998-2003), one of the four Vice Presidents during the transitional government from 2003-2006, and lost the presidency in a runoff to Kabila. Bemba was the eventual Presidential runner-up in late 2006 in the first democratic elections since 1960. In 2007 he was elected a Senator, and because there was signicant tension between him and the national army, employed a sizeable personal security detail which led to the last fighting in Kinshasa in March last year.

He was recruited by then president of Central African Republic to aid him against rebels that threatened and eventually overthrew the CAR government in 2003. Bangui is just across the DRC border/Congo river and was the site of widespread sexual violence during this time. The Int'l Criminal Court was commissioned by CAR to investigate and just last week Bemba was arrested in Belgium. This led to protests at the Belgian Embassy. Protestors were irked because Bemba was arrested in Belgium not in Portugal, despite their membership in the ICC. This might be just a timing thing, but maybe Belgium is trying to assert their "authority" here...I don't know. The Belgian consulates in two other cities have since been closed.

The politics here are touchy. Bemba who enjoys local support who sees the current president as an outsider in Kinshasa, despite being a warlord responsible for troops involved in atrocities. There is always the western meddling too. People have good spirit though. Students respected each other's views. Its a fascinating place, the politics really control the livelihood of so many....and have struggled for so long. For justice this arrest is good, for the politics, I gotta hope this opens an opportunity for someone out there who might be a better politician than Bemba.

Researcher found in the bush

After nearly 10 days in the bush, a bonobo chimp researcher was "found". The articles say that a 23 year old German lady separated from her teammate when they were looking for these rare monkeys near Salonga National Park. Articles say some priests apparently rescued her, but I may speculate that poachers found her...pretty amazing, to save themselves they could have done anything BUT bring her back to priests in their village (2 days away from where she was lost). This just gives me the sense that not all illegal poachers, artisanal loggers and miners are evil; they're humans just trying to get by.

Friendly Sunday night

Today was mostly isolated til this evening when my neighbor invited me to his church party in our compound. Around 200 from the Int'l protestant church showed up for an outside dinner. Met some American expats, missionaries, and Congolese young male students who attend local protestant universities. They're in the English club and go to the American Corner to learn about US culture. Of course, it was nice to be able to speak English, and amazing that they speak their 3rd language so well - 1)Lingala, 2)French and 3)English...wow, puts me to shame. Also, there is some good music coming (mariah carey and some native) from somewhere and cheers about some football match. Kinshasa is growing on me! Just need to learn how to order ingredients for a good goat recipe.

The Pillagers

Sorry for the blogfunk - patience is needed on my part. Knowing the history of DRC is important to understanding the present..why resources worth gobs of money coexist with poverty, scant law, and disorder. Lumumba was determined for independence in 1960, and quickly alienated the US, UN & Belgium with his "At any cost, with anybody's help" rhetoric. Early on the CIA got involved behind the scenes to ensure Congo didn't go Red...its difficult to understand why we were so scared about this, as Belgium had left Congo with infrastructure but little capacity. It wasn't long before Lumumba was taken out, and Western support thrown behind Mobutu to keep him in our fold. We showered him with $$$ and praise as the early 1970s saw some development, stability and world attention as Don King promoted his two boxers Foreman vs. Ali for the 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle". This was apparently the height of the Congo's glory, which crumbled as Mobutu formed a kleptocracy which still echoes today. He pilfered all the money he wanted from the national banks, bought homes all over Europe, chartered Concordes for his flights to visit political allies in the west. Bush and Reagan frenziedly stuffed dollars in his pockets as a "deposit" against communism in the region. Now sadly its difficult to see why it was worth it. From just below the elite, every civil servant had to start robbing and begging to make it. This took off like a disease under Mobutu, and echoes of it are here today...in 1991, looting in Kinshasa by the unpaid military still scares people about protests. Other pillagers have come from closeby, as the Rwanda 1994 crisis seems to have just been exported to the east DRC, causing resource-funded regional battling. Ethnic battles here seem to be taming as ceasefires and reintegration efforts continue. What's in store for the future of this place? We can only hope that American interests here can be conducted with wisdom, foresight and morality. Though the US contributes 0 troops to the 18,000 UN peacekeepers, they supposedly fund a good chunk as penance for our sins.