Promotion: World Malaria Day

In a slight but significant change of program, April 25th has been promoted from Africa Malaria Day to World Malaria Day.

Why the big change? I guess some higher-ups in the UN took note that one of every 5 child deaths in Africa is still due to that old bugger that killed at least 4 Popes.

I know you’re heard all about bednets on this blog before but this year, there’s some great data to back it up. As bednet coverage in Malawi has increased over the last few years, the anemia rates in small children (attributed largely to malaria) have decrease by over 40% since 2005. So not only are the kiddos getting malaria less, but less anemia means they’re stronger to fight other diseases.

Needless to say, we’re all pretty excited. So raise your glass or your mozzie repellent in toast and if you’re feeling generous, part with a few dollars, euros, or kwachas so we can part with a few more mozzies.

Tis the season

As you faithrful readers out there begin to complate late holiday shopping, I point you toward Kiva: Loans that change lives, a microfinance organisation that allows you invest in small-scale projects in developing countries. As my Grinnell College bud and fellow blogger Trey says:

“You go to the site, find an entrepreneur in the developing world that needs a loan, and give them some cash (in increments of $25). If their business is successful, you’ll get your money repaid in about a year. There’s a 99.9% repayment rate. That’s better than the Grameen Bank (whose founder just won a Nobel Peace Prize).”

Give it a look and happy holidays.

On the joys of meetings

In my job, which I rarely allude to here, I spend a reasonable amount of time collaborating with government partners. Contrary to what you may think, I have found many of them to be intelligent, eager to work together and generally committed to working for their country.

That being said, I still find government meetings to be a challenge. For example, my team and I were recently invited to a day-long workshop where findings of recent research would be presented. A programme of the day’s events looked something like this:

8:00 Arrival of participants
8:20 Arrival of the Assistant to the Office of the Minister
8:40 Arrival of the Representative of the Minister
9:00 Arrival of the Deputy to the Minister
10:00 Arrival of the Minister
10:15 Speech by the Assistant to the Office of the Minister
11:00 Coffee break
11:30 Speech by the Representative to the Minister
12:00 Speech by the Deputy to the Minister
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Speech by the Minister
15:00 Presentation of findings
16:00 Closing speech by the Deputy to the Minister
17:00 Cocktail Hour

And people wonder why I installed Tetris on my PalmPilot.

Inauguration Day

Today at Congo’s Supreme Court, Joseph Kabila was sworn in as president. The man who became the world’s youngest head of state when his father was assassinated nearly 6 years ago has at last gained his legitimacy as a democratically-elected leader.

The inauguration was attended by African heads of state Mbeki (South Africa) and Bongo (Gabon) among others. Notably absent was Jean Pierre Bemba, former rebel leader, vice president and main election opposition, who declined to attend. Following the Supreme Court’s confirmation last week of the Independent Electoral Commission’s election results, Bemba publicly resigned himself to democratic political opposition.

As the EU Force prepares to leave and MONUC scales back its presence, we enter a new period of unknowing. How does Bemba see himself maintaining this opposition he has announced? Even more worrying is that earlier this week, the police put several residential quartiers in Kinshasa under lockdown, prohibiting residents from going to work and school. It was done quietly and the motivation is still foggy.

As much as this has been a big step for Congo, I worry that the democracy building projects at the community level have promised too much too soon. How long with the Congolese be patient in waiting for change that has been long promised and never delivered? How long will Bemba hold his guns for his tongue? The rebel leader currently under investigation for human rights violations Laurent Nkunda still walks free, only 20kms from Goma, continuing to terrorise villagers.

Turning a nation this size from conflict to post-conflict to democracy is no small journey and Kabila’s next feat awaits.

It’s official

Congo’s Supreme Court has declared Joseph Kabila president. While some people hit the streets with glee, others in the East are faced once again with the imminent prospect of violence as rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, the man responsible for the 2004 siege of Bukavu, stirs up trouble again as his troops clash with FARDC (Congolese national army) forces in North Kivu. As of September 2005, there is an international warrant out for Nkunda’s arrest for war crimes and other human rights abuses in the East. There has been some speculation about whether the current government can or should use amnesty as a bargaining technique.

Meanwhile I will be leaving at long last my exile in Nairobi tomorrow morning to head back to Kinshasa, where I will once again be reporting to you from the middle of the mayhem.

Coming down to the line - again

Following Tuesday outbreak of violence, Kabila has given Bemba’s troops a 48-hour ultimatum to leave Kinshasa and return to their camp at Maluku (a mere hour’s drive out of town if traffic is treating you well). Supposedly the troops have begun to leave although it’s not clear how many are being moved and whether the move of some troops is a symbolic gesture or whether Bemba is actually conceding.

As we come down to the deadline, MONUC and EUFOR have indicated that their role is not disarmament and have left FARDC, the national army to enforce the ultimatum – if necessary.

In the meantime, a mass grave has been uncovered in the eastern region of Ituri containing women and children’s bodies. The site is currently under investigation and it’s speculated that the killing occurred sometime between the first and second round of elections this year. UN Human Rights teams have been brought in to survey the area, along with Congolese military officials, who have been accused of beign responsible for the slaughter.

Meanwhile tomorrow is also the deadline for the Supreme Court’s ruling on whether Bemba’s filed complaint about election fraud is valid or whether the Independent Electoral Commission’s tally of the poll results will stand.

Purgatory

Purgatory. I am not a religious person but there is no doubt in my mind that purgatory exists and that its epicenter today was Kinshasa.

Protests outside the Supreme Court erupted in violence when several hundred Bemba supporters turned to arson. Several vehicles, including a police car, and the court building itself were caught in the path. Police fired into the air and gassed the crowd; amazingly, there were no casualties.

This past Saturday, Bemba filed a formal charge at the Supreme Court against the election results put forth by the Independent Electoral Commission. The Court had been due to confirm the IEC’s results but now have one week to respond to Bemba’s complaint. The longer the process is drawn out, the more impatience grows and a nation waits to learn its fate.

I wonder why Bemba has chosen this route. I wonder who is making these calls. I wonder who advised him to turn down the (rumoured) offer of a Prime Minister-ship from Kabila.

“(M)ost Congolese still believe that theirs is a situation of no-war-no-peace” reports a local newspaper in the face of a six-month long electoral process. And I note that here in Central Africa, death is not a necessary step in waiting for judgment.

(forwarded from the front lines)

Kabila takes all

Joseph Kabila has just been announced as Congo’s next president by the Independent Electoral Commission with 58.05% of the popular vote.

While the election itself began with the first round of polling and 33 candidates on the 30th of July this year, the process began in 2002 with the signing of the Peace Accords in South Africa and the installation of the transitional government in mid-2003.

At the time the transitional government was installed, I was living in the Kasai (in Congo’s central region) about 90km from the front between government-held and rebel-held Congo. At the time, one needed a separate visa to visit the East and the Congo River was only just reopening to traffic between the two portions of the country.

I remember being on a supervision visit near the border between these two regions right around the time the transitional government was sworn in with a friend of mine who has been working in primary heath services in this country for more than 20 years. We bumped into a colonel who was stationed at the front and chatted for a bit. As the colonel was leaving, my friend told me that the man had helped him to work with the military during the war to carry out vaccination campaigns on the other side of the border during the peak of the fighting.

This friend of mine, a true child of Congo who grew up all over the country and speaks every major local language, has played a role in saving more lives than I can begin to imagine. Of the 4 or so million people who were lost during the war, the large majority died of malaria and other preventable diseases as a result of displacement and exposure.

The biggest killers in this country where more than 38,000 people extra –above and beyond the normal mortality rate for this part of the world- die each month are malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea, all complicated by malnutrition and severe anemia. The large majority of these deaths occur among children, of whom 20% die before they reach their fifth birthday.

It’s unclear what will come over the course of the next few days, both before and after Sunday when the Supreme Court will vote on whether to give its blessing to the election results. But there is no doubt that this is a major achievement towards creating a place where potable water is no longer a luxury.

Watch this space

Bemba’s collation of supports, the Union for the Nation –whimsically called the UN- has declared Bemba the winner of the election with what the ‘UN’ has determined to be 52% of the vote. This alarming announcement comes directly in the face of the Independant Electoral Commission’s vote tally, which puts Bemba at just under 40% and straight into the losing position.

Tensions mount as Bemba’s troops were ordered to disarm and retreat to a camp outside Kinshasa yesterday; instead they reinforced their numbers. Kabila’s troops in turn reinforced – as did the UN’s (the internationally recognised UN, that is).

The IEC has responded to Bemba’s allegations and there are indicatiosn that it may release its official results today in order to theoretically put an end to the discord that threatens an unsteady quiet.

The space between now and official

With 99% of the districts reporting election results (though the website suddenly and mysteriously refuses to display actually results for me) and Kabila holding his 20% margin at 60% of the popular vote, the remaining districts are no where near enough to sway the outcome. In fact, the counting is most likely complete at this point, although the Independent Electoral Commission is still officially investigating claims of election fraud lodged by Bemba’s camp. While many specualte that Saturday’s shoot-out diffused tension in Kinshasa, the Cardinal of Kinshasa, currently somewhere in Europe, is not so willing to the situation slide: I ask the international community to abstain from all attempts to impose on the people of Congo he whom they have not chosen as their president. Oh, ye of little faith…

But attitudes remain positive that the election results announcement will be meet with relative calm: the 1200-person EU force that came to secure the national elections still plans to leave Congo at the end of November, just two weeks away.

Meanwhile, Kinshasa’s street people, the sheges –largely blamed for the weekend’s violent outbreak- are being rounded up and jailed just as occurred after rioting in downtown Kinshasa in late September.