Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!! (These are my two pumpkins that I never found the time to carve. At least this way, though, I can keep them as decorations until Thanksgiving!)

Continued crisis in DRC

Rumors from the Congo are that even though a ceasefire has been declared, it has only led to an increase in looting, pillaging, raping and civilian killings in Goma as the catastrophe there worsens. Below is an updated article from the BBC.

'Human catastrophe' grips Congo
BBC News, 31 October 2008

Fierce fighting between government and rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo has caused a humanitarian catastrophe, the Red Cross says.

Diplomatic efforts are under way to end the crisis, which has threatened to spill over into neighbouring Rwanda.

A tense ceasefire is holding in the eastern city of Goma, where tens of thousands fled as rebels advanced.

But rebel leader Gen Laurent Nkunda has threatened to take the city unless UN peacekeepers guarantee the ceasefire.

Killings and rapes have been reported in Goma and aid has not been reaching the displaced.

Oxfam and other leading international aid agencies have suspended operations in the city, where a main hospital as well as numerous businesses and homes have been looted.

The Red Cross's Michael Khambatta told the BBC the priority now was providing the vast numbers of civilians forced from their homes with food, medical aid, shelter and some sort of security.

After several days of fighting, Gen Nkunda declared the ceasefire on late on Wednesday, and his Tutsi forces are positioned some nine miles (15km) from Goma - the provincial capital of North Kivu.

He said he was opening a "humanitarian corridor" so aid could reach the thousands of people trapped between his forces and UN soldiers backing up government troops in the city.

Much of the looting has been blamed on retreating Congolese troops.

The UN is considering redeploying some of its 17,000-strong force in DR Congo - the world's largest - to bolster around 5,000 peacekeepers in the city.

As the tense ceasefire held early on Friday, a multi-pronged diplomatic effort was under way to resolve the crisis.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent envoys to both DR Congo and Rwanda as each accused the other of launching cross-border incursions.

The African Union is to hold crisis talks on Friday and EU efforts have been ongoing to bring Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Joseph Kabila together.

The EU is also to discuss sending troops to the area to aid the humanitarian effort.

Meanwhile, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer has held talks with Mr Kabila in DR Congo's capital, Kinshasa.

Many in DR Congo say Rwanda supports Gen Nkunda's forces - something Rwanda denies.

In the past two months, more than 200,000 people have been driven from their homes across eastern DR Congo.

While thousands have sought refuge in Goma, many thousands more have fled into the forests, where the militias cannot find them, and the aid agencies cannot help them.

Gen Nkunda has told the BBC his goal was to protect the Tutsi community from attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels, some of whom are accused of taking part in the country's 1994 genocide.

Correspondents say a race for the area's mineral wealth is fuelling the conflict as much as ethnic enmities.

There are growing concerns for the welfare of 39 wildlife rangers who were forced to flee into dense forest after their headquarters in eastern DR Congo were stormed by rebels.

Serious trouble in DRC

Comparisons between the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the current situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo have begun. Over the last week, the situation around Goma, which has been a humanitarian crisis for years, has escalated significantly, and it is continuing to worsen by the day, if not the hour. A search for "Congo" on Google News will find numerous articles about the situation. One from the New York Times found here gives background; below is another from the British newspaper, The Independent, that is even more disturbing.

Ominous echoes of genocide
The Independent, Thursday, 30 October 2008

We have been here before. There is a disturbing déjà vu to the reports of thousands of refugees on the move with their mattresses and cooking pots in the border area between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This latest outbreak of fighting follows a familiar pattern, for it has its roots in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 in which a minority of Hutus massacred 500,000 Tutsi in Rwanda under a Hutu-dominated military government. When that regime was ousted by a Tutsi force, two million Hutus, fearing reprisals, fled into eastern Congo, where large numbers remain. The area has, in the years since, remained a powder keg in which the two ethnic groups have co-existed uneasily, with frequent outbursts of violence. What makes all this worse is that the Rwandan government gives covert support to Tutsi militias which are in open revolt against the Congolese government. Conversely, the DRC government gives succour to the Hutu militias that oppose them. The two capitals deny this, but the truth is plain enough in an area which is rich in gold, coltan and other minerals.

The Congo, which is as big as Europe, is home to the world's largest peacekeeping force of 17,000 United Nations troops. There have been calls, by the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo and within the UN, for more troops to be sent. That is not the answer in a country which once absorbed armies from Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan and Chad to no avail in a conflict which has cost five times as many lives as the Rwandan genocide. The UN troops are often ineffectual, occasionally finding themselves stoned by locals frustrated by their ineffectiveness against the militias.

The UN Secretary General has sent envoys to the presidents of both the DRC and Rwanda. What they need to press for is round-table talks which involve not just both governments but also both rebel militia forces, something the DRC has until now opposed.

The international community, and most particularly the African Union, needs to push for face-to-face talks between the four parties. It failed to act early enough in 1994, and it must not make the same mistake again.

Something fishy

In an effort to keep myself from adopting one of the many cats and dogs running around the streets of Cairo, I bought a fish today. I had names picked out for two (I was planning to buy a pair), but neither works well for a single fish, so I'm going to have to think up something else. I'll let you know when I do. For now, though, here's a little clip of what he looks like.

Spirit of Giving auction

On Friday night I attended the annual Spirit of Giving Charity Dinner Auction, hosted by St. John's Church. The event took place at the home of the deputy director of USAID (that's my new dream job, by the way, just based on the house) and approximately 300 people attended. There was a silent auction, blackjack, a live auction, a delicious Thai dinner (with amazing dessert!), live entertainment by a bluegrass band (who would have thought!?) and an open bar serving wine (which I only mention because of the difficulty of finding decent wine in this country!). It was such a fun night and such a successful fundraiser! At church on Saturday, our pastor reported that the event had raised somewhere between $30,000 and $35,000. All of the money raised will go to ministries here in Egypt that serve refugees, children, women and other vulnerable populations.