surrender posted:

The so-called "decoupage," or provincial splitting, was made official in the DRC last week. Here's the new provincial map:



Notably, Orientale (northeast) was split into four provinces, Equateur (northwest) into five, and Katanga (southeast) into four. Orientale was the most populous province and the largest gold-mining region, while Katanga was the center of the copper mining industry. The split is probably going to have little effect on the average resident because most of the provinces are just as terrible at providing basic services as the federal government, but apparently Kabila pushed it through to weaken governors who would challenge him in the 2016 election. In Orientale, where I'm currently living, the parliamentarians in each new province will have to appoint interim governors, yet there's no money to hold proper elections after that.

Also, I highly recommend Congo: The Epic History of a People by David van Reybrouck for anyone interested in the country's history. There's not much out there about the current political situation bar stuff in Foreign Affairs, but Radio Okapi is far and away the best news source in the country.