Kabila, Kapita, and the Kangas twins…pt 1

For those of you who don’t have time to read everything below (which I’ve split into two parts), here are the “Grandes Lignes” of my week:

1.Kabila won the elections, Bemba is contesting the results
2.I somehow managed to get to the field this week to find that the people of Kigongo had managed to do next to nothing about the emergency primary school
3.I ate a bad ham sandwich

Soundtrack—Pinback, summer in abbadon…and a little bit of “Fat Freddy’s Drop”—a bit of slow jam New Zealand soul


This week, as is so often the case in Congo, nothing happened according to plan…Though given until the 19th (today) to declare the official results of the presidential run-off, CEI decided to announce the election results on the 16th, while I was still in Burundi, wretching from a nasty little ham sandwich… Kabila, came in with 58.05% of the vote (bemba, having scored app20% last time, came in with over 40% this time around)…effectively becoming DRC’s first democratically elected (universal suffrage) since independence. The supreme court has to endorse the results, and this wont happen until after they’ve judged the validity of Bemba’s legal challenge (raised against something or other)—bow to stern the process must be concluded within 10days from the date of the announcement…Bemba promised to pursue his case through legal means and forego violence, for now, but the election results—as I’m sure you’ve all seen on the BBC (or maybe Al-Jezeera’s new English broadcast?)—show a marked division between the east and the west of the country (the former Lingala-phone, the latter Swahili-phone)… lots of speculation, lots of talk, a little bit of manacing, but for the time being everything is calm and Kabila supporters are celebrating… The big catch is that Bemba has been indicted for War Crimes in Central African Republic—we’ve been discussing the international legal ramifications of this, and little fishy on the details, but essentially, Bemba has evaded extradition to the Hague by virtue the protection/immunity offered by his position as VP…were his status in Gov’t to change, or if Kabila thought it best, he would eligible for an indeterminate holiday in the Netherlands. So there’s a lot on the table, and again, lots of speculation and talking (frankly, I’m quite tired of it!)…would Kabila pull him into his cabinet, would he move against him immediately, would Bemba’s military apparatus be able to react in the absence of the personality and the wallet of its patron, would Bemba accept anything less than becoming the new president “elect”? Who know’s, and we certainly wont find out any more before next week…



Now, about the Ham sandwich. As I mentioned last week, we’ve been terribly restricted in our movements. As a general precaution, during the actual election, the period comprising the suspected/determined date for the announcement of the results, we’ve been forbidden for spending nights in the field. The implications for my department were paralytic—There are very few places in South Kivu were my team has work that can be achieved, even in-part, in a single day. But the decision was sweeping, was applicable to all departments, and in the absence of any certainty regarding the results or the candidate’s reaction, the measures would hereforthwith be maintained until further notice! But not to be outdone, we managed to negotiate an emergency trip to Kigongo/Uvira for a small response with regards to the damaged school and a few flood-affected families (I’m not online at present, but I’m pretty sure I wrote about this previously) Well, seeing that we couldn’t conduct any of our planned activities last, I sent everyone home for holidays, and set myself to the task of trying to convince my bosses to let me out for a couple nights—to verify completion of the emergency school, to settle accounts with the labourers involved in its construction, confirm the NFI distribution had been successful (conducted remotely with the assistance of TearFund), and argue the toss regarding the financing of emergency latrines at a military camp that was swiftly become a vector for another cholera epidemic in Uvira…Monday, 12:30, I got permission from the Country director (at present, my direct supervisor) to hurry down to Uvira to complete the above mentioned activities, but only if the following conditions were met:
1.no travel to the site through the DRC (the route can be a little sketchy) and I was not permitted to spend the night in the field(as already mentioned)
2.no National staff, No IRC-DRC vehicles—Just me, my satphone, and a list of possible car-pooles!
3.confirm all arrangements prior to departure—EVERYTHING had to be in place before they’d let me out.
the pics--my buddy the Kapita with all his buddies...the interim solution to the "rocks everywere" problem, saw the first big lorry get through(had to drive through the old school's yard...action shot--me and haile walking down the other side of the nice new ramp

see below for the next instalment

C