The left forearm resting on the table, body leaning forward, you take a small piece of foufou and knead it into an elastic consistency that you dip into the sombé. The juice of the sombé dripping slowly on your fingers, you bring the food quickly to your mouth, more juice dripping on your lips. The… [Read more…]
July 22, 2010
My recent trip to Eastern DRC, to work with the journalists who report for Face à la Justice, has been all together an incredible experience. Drained by energy-consuming months of work in The Hague, with low internet connection and shitty phone lines in DRC allowing only sporadic contacts with journalists on the ground, I was craving… [Read more…]
July 18, 2010
A little bit of context: In the past weeks, the defence in the trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo has accused an intermediary working for the prosecutor’s office of bribing witnesses for fake testimonies. As a result, the court has ordered the prosecutor to reveal the identity of the intermediary. But the prosecutor refused to reveal the identity… [Read more…]
July 13, 2010
Last week, while indulging in mojitos with K and C, I was struck once more by this constant tearing our generation has to face. Blessed with infinite possibilities of studying, working, living abroad, we are a very nomad generation and we grew up with the idea that nothing matters more than new experiences and travel;… [Read more…]
July 5, 2010
I am often amused by the thought that I may me going to church more than my friends who call themselves believers. In a foreign country, it is to me a ritual and in the past year or so, I must have been to mass around once a month on average. DRCongo being a fervently… [Read more…]
July 2, 2010
Many ordinary Congolese feel ambivalent about celebrating 50 years of statehood, given the dire state of their country. By Melanie Gouby in Goma and Tiffany Stecker in Brussels - International Justice – ICC ACR Issue 262, 2 Jul 10 As published by IWPR Fifty years ago this week, the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, joined a small but growing… [Read more…]
June 29, 2010
It seems I always end up visiting countries at the time of important national holidays. In Sri Lanka already, my second week was interrupted by the two days celebration of Sinhala-Tamil new year. This time in DRC, it is the anniversary of the 50 years independence that is forcing me into idleness. Not that I… [Read more…]
June 28, 2010
Merci, mais non, je ne reprendrais pas d’horreur aujourd’hui. Silence alentour, la clameur du livre éteinte. Sur la tranche perlent quelques gouttes ivres d’hurlements étouffées. Blanche, il ne sert à rien de tenter même un pas esquissé retombe épuisé de vertiges soudains. Le froid, il fait si froid, et les frissons qui parcourt sont épines… [Read more…]
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July 25, 2010
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