Posts

In Understanding the DRC Security Crisis, Distance is a Factor

-
Image
DR Congo President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi meets former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is the facilitator of the East African Community-led peace process and EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki in Kinshasa on November 13. Courtesy The re-emergence of the M23 group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after a decade of inaction has, once more, raised heated debate about Congo’s security fiasco in the region. Many analysts and political commentators seem to believe and advance Kinshasa’s main line of argument which is that Rwanda, mainly, and Uganda, to some extent, are directly involved in destabilizing the Congo’s eastern region in an attempt to steal the country’s mineral resources. Believing this narrative stems from a point of total ignorance of or limited knowledge about the dynamics of the affairs of the Democratic Republic of Congo and their historical underpinnings. Ignorance of historical factors contributing to the current state of things in the Congo and the region
Post a Comment
Read more

A revamped Agriculture sector will boost Currency Stability

-
Image
  A financing model for the sector should involve lenders shouldering the burden in case of farmer losses. Additionally, price incentivization, rather than relying solely on loan schemes, can motivate farmers to transition to farming models that yield higher output, benefiting from increased prices.                 Workers sort potatoes grown inside a green house in Musanze. Different experts are calling for increased adoption of modern agricultural models /Sam NGENDAHIMANA The May 2023 National Bank monetary policy report indicates an unusual increase in imports, with a 46.4% rise in consumer goods imports. This surge has accelerated the demand for the dollar and, coupled with a restrained US monetary policy, made the dollar even more expensive against the Rwandan Franc. Agricultural production has also experienced a decline, dropping from 6.4% in 2021 to 1.6% in 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, year-on-year inflation rates reached 35.4% and 75.6% for fruits and vegetables, respect
Post a Comment
Read more

Kinshasa’s collaboration with the FDLR is a losing game

-
Image
Today, the re-emergence of the M23 and DRC government's decision to collaborate with and ramp up its support for the FDLR in, supposedly, retaliation to Rwanda's aggression against the DRC is another event which will, eventually, end with Kinshasa losing more than it thought it would benefit from collaborating with the genocidal FDLR.                             Member of the FDLR When, in 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front stormed the Kagitumba border in an open come-home-fight against Forces Armees Rwandaises (FAR), then Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana called on his Zairian counterpart and friend, Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Zabanga, to send troops to bolster the fight against the "invading Ugandans.” The Zairian troops sent to reinforce the FAR were, soon, to be recalled home for their unexpected suffering on the frontline from the Rwandan Patriotic Army's heavy fire. That was DRC's first fruitless collaboration with genocidal forces. At the defeat of
Post a Comment
Read more

Support or Confidence? Where Votes Go

-
Image
Even when someone, individually, holds a different position about something, that position will most likely be swayed to that of the herd to which they belong.  It is 10 am, I enter my classroom (from the library) to find my guys- seated in the back corner of the classroom- discussing what three of them have just done- submitted their application letters for consideration for various leadership roles in the student administration.  Two of them (X & Y) have just submitted letters for the same post. Stunned, I look at them unhappy about that decision. This is not unfounded unhappiness. It is, rather, unhappiness resulting from a feeling of betrayal and deviation from the earlier plan.  I ask what prompted the change of mind, and I am told the other contender (Z) for the senior-most post is well known among teachers and students alike. My friend (Y), who we had agreed would throw his hat in the ring for the senior-most post, is afraid of losing to Z.  Given my loyalty to both, I tell
Post a Comment
Read more

Is SADC breaching its own protocols with deployment in DR Congo?

-
Image
  SADC’s Protocol on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation  has, among its objectives, to “ prevent, contain and resolve inter-and intrastate conflict by peaceful means .” It is, also, in the objectives of the same protocol to, “ consider enforcement action in accordance with international law and as a matter of last resort where peaceful means have failed.” A January 2024 SADC Communique pertaining to deployment of a Mission in the DR   C ongo  provides, among other things, that the deployment is in accordance with the principle of collective defense and collective action. According to the Mutual Defense Pact , Any armed attack perpetrated against one of the State Parties shall be considered a threat to regional peace and security and shall be met with immediate collective action . SADC’s Protocol on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation  has, among its objectives, to “ prevent, contain and resolve inter-and intrastate conflict by peaceful means .” It is, also, in the object
Post a Comment
Read more

With Every False Accusation, Kagame is Paying the Price for Standing Tall.

-
Image
  Every false accusation directed at President Kagame is intended at damaging his standing as a  responsible  leader. President Paul Kagame. There has been an end less  wave of accusations against President Paul   Kagame .   S ome accus e  him of causing insecurity in DR Congo in order to plunder minerals  while  others accus e  him of killing political opponents and abusing human rights, among a host of ill-deeds. For a  while  now, whenever the M23 re - emerges to fight for what it calls political oppression and Tutsi killings by the FDLR and satellite groups (and  the FARDC  sometimes) , DR   C ongo  authorities point fingers at  Rwanda . The arrest of Victoire Ingabire in 2010 - for crimes of  genocide ideolog y,  divisionism and terrorist acts - was met with stiff oppositio n . When Rusesabagina, was upheld and prosecute d , his sympathizers called for his “immediate release” and claimed he had been “wrongfully detained” and that Rwanda’s ju dicial system  was not free, so an unbi
Post a Comment
Read more

Big-Brother Attitudes Derailing Africa’s Unity & Prosperity

-
  If two or more entities are bound to work together but some, among them, feel stronger and in a higher position, politically and economically, prospects for respectful relations and a unified standing on matters of common interest get threatened. Africa has, for many decades after colonial rule, been grappling with the need to unite in the fight against development challenges, neocolonialism, among other critical matters challenging the development of the continent. Major among the causes of the failure to unite is competing power games with some countries elevating their own interests and goals over those of the others (and the continent) despite there being a commonality of problems and pursuits. Some countries view themselves as democratic and so hold a disrespectful attitude towards others which they regard as “autocratic.” Other countries regard themselves as economic behemoths and so despise those they deem as of a lower economic status. Countries even boast of their land size
Post a Comment
Read more