Congo election! First democratic election in 60 years

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > Congo election! First democratic election in 60 years

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Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

curried lamb of God posted:

RE: Hutu militias, the ex-Interhamwe were pushed across the border from Rwanda into the DRC, and many (along with their families) are still living in refugee camps near the border since Rwanda sure as gently caress doesn't want them back and I'm sure other countries don't want to welcome ex-genocidaires into their country. Rwanda borders North and South Kivu provinces, and the former has a lot of ethnic Tutsis, so the Hutu families are in camps as much for their safety as anybody else's

I worked for an agriculture project in collaboration with the Congolese Army (to help feed them, basically), and my job site was on an army base in Kisangani. In 2014, the UN decided to temporarily transfer ~800 Hutus from the FDLR and their families from the Rwandan border to this base, where they were supposed to stay for a couple of weeks before repatriating them to Rwanda. Of course, once they arrived in Kisangani, they refused to go back to Rwanda due to fears of incarceration (or worse), and they've been living in the barracks since then. Out of those 800, maybe 110 were/are militants, and the rest are their wives and children. They haven't been able to leave their part of the base since arriving, also for their own protection - Kisangani residents loathe Rwandans due to the atrocities their army committed in the Second Congo War in 1999. Although I didn't have any involvement in the operation of their camp, I did get to visit when the former US Ambassador passed by in 2015.

The UN mission in the Congo (MONUSCO) had provided food and health care until October 2018, when they handed over that task to the Congolese government. Thankfully, it looks like they were repatriated to Rwanda in November, and it looks like the Rwandan government is trying to reintegrate them into society.

So how disturbing is this report?

quote:

According to African Confidential, among the thousands of troops newly deployed to Kinshasa�s streets are many former members of the Rwanda-backed M23, a rebel group accused of committing many war crimes including rape, execution and recruiting child soldiers. Rwanda�s Paul Kagame is said to support Kabila�s choice of Shadary because he believes it the best way to control the conflict on the countries� shared border.

https://www.africa-confidential.com/article/id/12527/Church_claims_sweeping_opposition_win

My grandfather once left my father when he was young and a bunch of other kids he had in the back of his truck on a ferry when crossing the river in Kindu. Dad said they stayed with an Ismaili shopkeeper until my grandfather realized his error and drove back to get them (about a day). Oops. They lived there a while, and got supplies there when they lived in Kama (missionaries, of course).

Ironically my current next door neighbour is an elderly Ismaili refugee originally from Uganda. He gets a real kick out of the fact I know a little something about his part of Africa (which is rare in NA)

# ? Jan 7, 2019 06:44

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# ? May 9, 2024 11:43

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

whoa shameful miss of a snipe in my own thread, mods hit me with a sixer if you possibly stumble across this thread/post

# ? Jan 7, 2019 06:46

curried lamb of God: Aug 31, 2001; we are all Marwinners

Bilirubin posted:

So how disturbing is this report?
https://www.africa-confidential.com/article/id/12527/Church_claims_sweeping_opposition_win

My grandfather once left my father when he was young and a bunch of other kids he had in the back of his truck on a ferry when crossing the river in Kindu. Dad said they stayed with an Ismaili shopkeeper until my grandfather realized his error and drove back to get them (about a day). Oops. They lived there a while, and got supplies there when they lived in Kama (missionaries, of course).

Ironically my current next door neighbour is an elderly Ismaili refugee originally from Uganda. He gets a real kick out of the fact I know a little something about his part of Africa (which is rare in NA)

Ironic because US support for the Congolese Army started to help them combat M23 after they took over Goma :v:

Honestly, my gut feeling is that they're not intentionally deploying ex-M23 fighters for a specific reason. There's sort of a lifecycle for rebel groups - they want concessions from the central government on some matter or want to control a certain area rich in resources, so they start a militia, fight for a while, and eventually reach an agreement and reintegrate into the Congolese army. So, within any given battalion, many (if not most) soldiers are former rebels from various groups.

# ? Jan 7, 2019 06:56

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

curried lamb of God posted:

Ironic because US support for the Congolese Army started to help them combat M23 after they took over Goma

Honestly, my gut feeling is that they're not intentionally deploying ex-M23 fighters for a specific reason. There's sort of a lifecycle for rebel groups - they want concessions from the central government on some matter or want to control a certain area rich in resources, so they start a militia, fight for a while, and eventually reach an agreement and reintegrate into the Congolese army. So, within any given battalion, many (if not most) soldiers are former rebels from various groups.

Interesting. I was reading last night more in detail and had somehow forgotten that Kabila the elder was a Simba commander back in the day.

I wonder how much differently Congo would run devolving more of the powers to the provinces like was the original plan before Mobutu centralized things, given that seems to be what drives so much of the violence

# ? Jan 7, 2019 07:01

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Oh hey, didn't we just land troops there?

# ? Jan 7, 2019 15:52

Nanomashoes: Aug 18, 2012

The results are in and it looks like Thomas Sankara has won, I repeat, Thomas Sankara is now president of the congo.

# ? Jan 7, 2019 16:04

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

That's some drat impressive election fraud

# ? Jan 7, 2019 16:09

sexpig by night: Sep 8, 2011; by Azathoth

Bilirubin posted:

Oh hey, didn't we just land troops there?

can't imagine why the local military would think a leader who's crippled from a stroke and now letting the US use his nation as a military staging ground is weak, oh well better not think about this for too long or I may have to acknowledge things!

# ? Jan 7, 2019 16:09

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

Bilirubin posted:

Oh hey, didn't we just land troops there?

They've already been arrested and some election fraud in the current leaders home state of 99.5% turnout and 99% voting for him has led to him just scraping winning the Gabon leadership again

# ? Jan 7, 2019 16:10

pantslesswithwolves: Oct 28, 2008; Ba-dam ba-DUMMMMMM

edit nvm

# ? Jan 7, 2019 16:14

Teriyaki Hairpiece: Dec 29, 2006; I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.

Gabon is a country the size of Colorado with a lot of really tasty trees.

# ? Jan 8, 2019 04:12

Tunicate: May 15, 2012

Jose posted:

That's some drat impressive election fraud

too bad there's no way ECOWAS is gonna flex their way into enforcing the actual results

# ? Jan 8, 2019 11:16

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Welp, this was unexpected

quote:

NAIROBI � Congo�s electoral commission declared Felix �Tshisekedi the winner of a contentious presidential election in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, setting the stage for the country�s first democratic transfer of power, despite delays, irregularities and evidence of fraud.

Tshisekedi�s win was announced almost two weeks after the Dec. 30 election. He garnered just under 40 percent of votes cast in a field of 21 candidates.

He will replace Joseph Kabila, who has been president for the past 18 years. Tshisekedi represents Congo�s oldest political party, founded by his father, which has spent decades in the opposition.

Kabila�s handpicked candidate to be his successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, drew the least number of votes of the leading candidates.

A second opposition candidate, Martin Fayulu, came in second despite consistently polling as the favorite. Just before the announcement of the results, Fayulu, a former Exxon employee turned parliamentarian, said in a message that a power-sharing deal between Tshisekedi and Shadary had become an �open secret.�

�My response is simple: The Congolese people deserve the truth of the ballot, not another backroom arrangement,� he said. Fayulu and other losing candidates are legally entitled to appeal the results to a constitutional court.

# ? Jan 10, 2019 04:42

oystertoadfish: Jun 17, 2003

that's uh... good? i wish them luck

please let us know when the precinct-level results are available in shapefile or similar format thank

congolese election analysis is probably a market yet to be tapped? idk

# ? Jan 10, 2019 07:01

Stairmaster: Jun 8, 2012

So you want to take their raw resource and sell them a finished product made from it???

# ? Jan 10, 2019 07:39

oystertoadfish: Jun 17, 2003

oh no im the force publique

give me a hand people

ugh

# ? Jan 10, 2019 07:47

Fallen Hamprince: Nov 12, 2016

oystertoadfish posted:

oh no im the force publique

give me a hand people

# ? Jan 10, 2019 14:40

Peanut President: Nov 5, 2008; by Athanatos

Why do people keep calling DRC "Congo" there's 2 of them

# ? Jan 10, 2019 16:08

Peanut President: Nov 5, 2008; by Athanatos

or is it a "Congo" and "The Congo" thing

# ? Jan 10, 2019 16:08

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Its bigger OP

More fallout: https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...m=.7520ff884f2b

# ? Jan 10, 2019 16:13

Dreddout: Oct 1, 2015; You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

Peanut President posted:

Why do people keep calling DRC "Congo" there's 2 of them

DRC is by far larger so it's not hard to imagine it's the default Congo in most people's mind

Kinda like the PRC vs ROC

# ? Jan 10, 2019 18:45

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Fayulu is challenging the results, and the Catholic vote monitoring project concurs with his conclusion of fraud

# ? Jan 12, 2019 18:26

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

lol well this will end well

# ? Jan 12, 2019 20:29

get that OUT of my face: Feb 10, 2007

don't count your peaceful transfers of power until they hatch. didn't something like this happen in Gabon recently?

# ? Jan 13, 2019 02:28

Larry Parrish: Jul 9, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Fallen Hamprince posted:

how are the roads? i read a book a while back about a guy who went from bukavu (iirc) to kisangani on the N3 and he had to do it by dirtbike

i dont understand when I watch documentaries of a road that hasn't been graded in only two or three rainy seasons and they're like OUR TEAM HAD DIFFICULTY NAVIGATING THE BARELY EXISTING ROADS and it's clearly something I could drive with my lovely Plymouth at about 20 miles an hour as long as I kept an eye out for rocks. maybe I should get a job with a documentary crew driving their jeeps because you can take those things over or through literally anything that isn't thick woods, the ones with big, high wheels you always see on TV and stuff can even rock crawl fairly well so boulders dont even stop you

# ? Jan 13, 2019 11:20

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1085139680620920832

# ? Jan 15, 2019 12:42

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

African Union requests delay in election announcement

# ? Jan 19, 2019 17:02

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Bilirubin posted:

African Union requests delay in election announcement

Congo says "lol"

# ? Jan 20, 2019 06:57

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Fayulu encourages civil disobedience. What could go wrong?

# ? Jan 20, 2019 16:51

22 Eargesplitten: Oct 10, 2010

don�t worry, I�m sure the UN will step in if things start to get out of contr-hahahaha.

# ? Jan 20, 2019 17:01

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

22 Eargesplitten posted:

don�t worry, I�m sure the UN will step in if things start to get out of contr-hahahaha.

Right? Thank goodness the US has those tens of troops in Gambia ready to assist. Aw, they are too busy bombing al-Shabaab

Meanwhile, the ebola outbreak is getting out of control and might spill over the Congolese border.

# ? Jan 20, 2019 17:18

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Tshisekedi inaugurated, only one head of state attends. Congo still seems stunned.

# ? Feb 4, 2019 05:18

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Meanwhile, ebola keeps on truckin
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...m=.b88761962de6

# ? Mar 7, 2019 16:02

Lawman 0: Aug 17, 2010

It's really bad

# ? Mar 7, 2019 16:27

the bitcoin of weed: Nov 1, 2014

Bilirubin posted:

Tshisekedi inaugurated, only one head of state attends. Congo still seems stunned.

So is this just gonna roll on without any opposition or what

# ? Mar 7, 2019 20:37

Willie Tomg: Feb 2, 2006

the bitcoin of weed posted:

So is this just gonna roll on without any opposition or what

apparently! "opposition" is kind of a loaded term in the drc, and nobody really knows who the gently caress to get angry for/against because nobody saw this coming! its actually one of the most pristine acts of authoritarian jujitsu i'm aware of lol

# ? Mar 7, 2019 21:14

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# ? May 9, 2024 11:43

AnimeIsTrash: Jun 30, 2018

very interesting thanks for sharing OP

# ? Feb 16, 2023 00:06

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > Congo election! First democratic election in 60 years

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