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[Joni]

Seems like the situation will be heating up in the Democratic Republic Congo where Kabila's presidential term will end on Monday with no signs of him actually stepping down or organizing elections. Kabila who took office after the assassination of his father has reached his term limit. He doesn't seem to take this step, which will strengthen anti-government rebellions over the entiere country.

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have ordered that social networks including Facebook and WhatsApp be blocked soon before President Joseph Kabila’s mandate expires, three internet providers said Thursday.

In the opposition bastion Kasai-Oriental, political television programmes have also been banned until further notice, the head of a local media organisation told AFP on condition of anonymity.

http://www.buzzreporters.com/dr-congo-blocks-social-networks-as-kabilas-term-expires/

A TV crew from the Flemish public broadcaster VRT and the commercial station VTM have been forced to leave Congo. They were put on a plane back home.

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/News/1.2846368

Belgium advised against all travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday and urged citizens whose presence was not essential to leave its former colony due to fears of violence in planned anti-government protests.

http://af.reuters.com/article/idAFKBN14607L

 

[CoolOff]

How I feel about countries with "Democratic" in their name:

 

[Escape Goat]

I had a professor from Congo. He walked miles every day to university that his entire family helped pay for. He scavenged for pencils and studied hard so he could graduate and leave. Eventually he immigrated to the US and makes money which he sent back to his famiky. He was an interesting man and I hope his family is ok. I would have liked to have heard more of his story.

Anyways, he said Congo was so corrupt and dangerous. He loved American society and was so grateful for his family, which he had to spend a continent away from.

 

[DorkLord54]

The DRC is such a depressing state. It's so resource rich that, if it were to stabilise, it might be one of the most powerful countries on the planet (same with Nigeria). At the moment, though, not only is it corrupt and heavily divided by ethnicity, but every ambitious player on the continent (and off of it) wants part of that resource pie, so war is never out of the question for the country (I mean, shit, the most destructive conflict of the twenty-first century was fought for those reasons, and its effects still linger).

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

At first glance of the title, I thought it was about some dude named Dr. Congo....I just woke up.

I'm seeing more and more governments like this one cracking down on modern tools that can be used against them. They need to regress back to before the Information Age to maintain their power.

 

[Joni]

Belgium has stationned supplementary soldiers in a neighbouring country, as Congo is refusing Belgium's request to bring new soldiers in to protect the embassy and consulates. For now, Belgium will count on the help of French and English troops in the country to help defend the embassy/consulates if necessary. It is possible they will 'invade' Congo to reach the Lubumbashi consulate via Zambia if Belgian citizens are in danger. The British and American embassy have already evacuated non-essential personnel.

Meanwhile Belgian police had to bring out the water cannon when anti-Kabilla protests against the Congolese embassy in Belgium turned to violence. They threw cobble stones to break through the cordon. That doesn't bode well for protests in the country itself. Last September Congolese police killed 60 protesters, after which 4 police officers were lynched.

 

[Joni]

Political parties have reached an agreement: Kabila will remain in power for another year, but the opposition will select a new prime minister and will organize elections by then. Riots around the transfer of power cost the lives of an estimated 50 people, and lead to at least 500 arrests. This should bring peace back to at least parts of the country, a good way to start the year.

 

[BKK]

You won't get many replies to this, but this shit has been going on for a while ... only solution will be a military coup, but whoever does that is unlikely to be any better.

At the end of the day, de-colonisation was rushed in Africa, instead of long term preperation like in India. We're still seeing the consequences to this day.

 

[G.ZZZ]

You won't get many replies to this, but this shit has been going on for a while ... only solution will be a military coup, but whoever does that is unlikely to be any better.

At the end of the day, de-colonisation was rushed in Africa, instead of long term preperation like in India. We're still seeing the consequences to this day.

No offense but long-term preparation is not the term I'd use for India indipendence, at all. The whole thing was a big shitshow.

 

[Joni]

You won't get many replies to this, but this shit has been going on for a while ... only solution will be a military coup, but whoever does that is unlikely to be any better.

At the end of the day, de-colonisation was rushed in Africa, instead of long term preperation like in India. We're still seeing the consequences to this day.

The process for Congolese independence lasted about 20 years, from somewhere in World War II to 1960. The military coup wouldn't be a real solution, as Congo has been devasted by three already. The current conflict is partially caused by fractions of the army influenced by Rwanda.