"In DR Congo, Kabila finally comes of age"

More articles and updates for you....

But first, my favorite one so far! I just had to post this one:

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000047793&cid=349
In DR Congo, Kabila finally comes of age - The Standard (Kenya)
By Peter Wanyonyi

It is not for nothing that African presidents are described as ‘big’ men. Few elective positions in the world confer upon an individual the kind of power, prestige and money that an African gets by becoming leader of his or her country.

Whisper this quietly, too, but since African leaders are always men, save for those confused Liberians, being president also provides unfettered access to fellow citizens of the fairer gender.

In the pantheon of Africa’s Big Men, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Joseph Kabila has largely been a benign, reluctant presence. Unlike many of his peers, he didn’t come to power via a coup, a bush war or rigged elections. He inherited his position when a trusted bodyguard summarily dispatched his father to the other world. 

He was a slow learner, President Joseph Kabila. But no one can blame him. After all, he wasn’t even married when he became president of the DRC and as every villager knows, precious little can be expected of a man without a woman in the house. But as soon as a woman steps into a man’s world, matters change rapidly for the better. Focus is acquired, ambitions to own things suddenly materialise, and a ruthless pursuit of happiness ensues, driven by the needs of the real boss — Madam. 

Mad men

And so it is that President Kabila is finally coming of age. Pressed into agreeing to an allegedly democratic vote by his budget support partners, President Kabila finally acceded to elections, which are currently ongoing.

But the DRC is a strange place. Even mad men will wonder why a country that is wealthier than any other on earth — at least in terms of natural resources — should need budgetary support. After all, what is so difficult about digging holes in the ground, hauling minerals out of them and spreading them on the market. 

To be fair, though, President Kabila was willing to go along with the faÁade of democratic elections until someone — some say from South East Asia with an eye on the minerals of the DRC — whispered things into the Presidential ear. 

Whereupon the opposition candidate, who looked like he was making a fair shake of grabbing actual votes, discovered to his surprise that he wasn’t really supposed to campaign that hard, because there is no way he could win even if he did garner the most votes. 

You remember Uganda’s Dr Kiiza Besigye, don’t you?

And for a few more links... 

Church leaders warn of pending violence in Democratic Republic of Congo - The Telegraph
Editorial - The Times (South Africa)
Congo’s election commission says President Joseph Kabila leads in early vote results
*Note: I'm not sure where some of the sources for this information came from... But I don't agree with all of it... Especially the "reasons" for the delays in voting... Porters carrying the ballots on their heads? What about all of those planes we read about (how many were there?), which were rented to deliver ballots all over the country? 
Congo opposition rejects early presidential vote results - Reuters
Congo Siasa - Jason Stearns' blog