News in the Congo

As soon as the United States Presidential Primaries are over and the General Elections start you will probably notice all the fighting between the Democrats and Republicans. When this starts and you are wondering why they all just can't get along, I want you to think about Africa. Elections in many parts of Africa are a fragile and tumoltous process, the Democratic Republic of the Congo included. Currently in Kenya there is violence between supporters of the Orange Democratic Movement and the currently elected government. In March 2006, a few months after the presidential elections here there was fighting between the Congolese Military, loyal to the elected President and the forces loyal to the Opposition leader who lost the election. Madagascar in 2002 also had some violence after the opposition political parties challenged the results of the presidential election that had the president, who had been in power for at least a decade, winning the election. Many of the political parties are based on tribal lines and grudges between these tribes have been around for centuries.

Not only do you have problems with elections, but you have rebels and opposition forces throughout Africa, you have several humanitarian crisises to include Darfur, Somalia, Eastern Congo, and now Kenya. I want all our friends and family to know that even though all this is going on we are safe. In an effort to keep our loved ones informed about what is going on in the Congo I have added a Congo News link to the side. As articles come out about Congo I will place a link on this blog. I encourage all to read these articles and feel free to comment on what you read. Some of the articles may worry you, so I also encourage you to look at a map and look at where the problems are occuring. For the most part these articles will talk about things going on in eastern Congo, which is at least a 3 hour plane ride away, and impossible to get to by car. So we are far removed from these problems. For those of you who also want to watch some movies about Congo and the regions close by, I encourage you to watch Hotel Rwanda, Lumumba and The Constant Gardner. I hope this helps people know a little more about the world and the place that we live.