Missive from the Congo 002

Originally posted Mon, 30 Oct 2006 05:12:14 +0000 (GMT)

The last page of the ballot for the
provincial assembly.

It was Election Day in the Congo on Sunday 29 October. The election was the runoff for the presidency between the interim President Joseph Kabila and the vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba. I personally wouldn't want to vote for either candidate, one of whom has been indicted by the World Court for crimes against humanity for atrocities committed during the war. Unfortunately those are the choices facing the Congolese people. The electors also had to choose provincial members of parliament. The ballot for the provincial elections was crazy-huge. There were 279 candidates. The ballot was seven pages long. It included the name of the candidate, the logo of the party and a picture because of the low rate of literacy. People were often simply urged to vote for candidate number 88, or something similar.

The day was very anti-climatic. We had been building up for this day for weeks putting on a "Show of Force" last Thursday to convince local trouble makers that the UN had the wherewithal to deal with trouble if it showed up. Nonetheless there were no indicators of trouble on the horizon. Everybody seemed eager to get to the polls.

My day started out with a squabble among the UN civilians as to who was in charge. I stayed out of it. I know exactly who my boss is. That's one of the advantages of being in uniform; the chain of command is usually crystal clear.

A voter examining the ballot.

There were very few incidents reported in our area of operation. Those that were reported were minor in scope and negligible in impact. The fear was that things might get out of hand in Kinshasa (the capital) though because they voted overwhelmingly for the underdog in the first round and might not accept defeat well. Fortunately for public order, there were torrential rains in Kinshasa Sunday, which undoubtedly kept the crowds to a minimum. Some polling stations opened late because the staff had trouble getting in to work. Others were flooded, at least partially, and had to rescue the voting material before opening. In the end the voter turnout was low across the country (40-60%) but still compared well to US presidential elections and very well to Canadian municipal or school board elections.

Polling station on the outskirts of Kisangani

The next tense moment will be the announcement of the provisional results in three weeks. Until then, things should be quiet.

Next week, getting around in Kinsangani.

Missive from the Congo 001

Originally posted 24 Oct 2006 19:58:38 +0000 (GMT)

Hello all. This is my first missive from the Congo. It has been a whirlwind of change for the first six days. I left Ottawa last Wednesday and after nearly 20 hours of traveling, arrived in Kinshasa (The capital). The airport was something else. Everybody wants to help with your luggage. They won't take no for an answer and obviously want to be paid for their "help", even if all they did was place their hand on the pile of luggage while you pushed the cart. Fortunately we had a local UN employee to bark at them and help maintain some semblance of order.

The drive in from the airport is something else. Imagine a farmers market/flea market but without tables, on a dirt road… for 15 kilometers. Everybody is trying to sell something, a lot of it junk. There is no public transportation system so people use a sort of communal taxi, such as they use in Mexico. Except that here the vehicles are battered rust buckets, usually with no windows and with people hanging out the sides and back. The driving is manic. It makes the Metropolitan at rush hour in Montreal seem like an orderly and sedate Sunday drive. They pass on the left and right. There are tons of bikes that weave in and out of traffic and there are no traffic signals.

After one day in Kinshasa I move on to Kisangani which is a provincial capital I will be staying at for the remainder of the tour. Kisangani is much less hectic though the drivers are just as bad and the roads are much worse. There are potholes everywhere on the main roads. The secondary roads don’t have potholes because they are not paved. They have ruts and mud holes. They make the road to my parent’s cottage look like a four lane highway. More on that in another missive.

The last three days have been devoted to the handover. I have been so inundated with information I feel like my head will explode. I liken it to drinking from a fire hose. The staff is multinational. There are only two people from the same country. The other 25 or so persons are all from different countries. One of the most difficult things so far has been to try and get use to the multitude of accents and remember who to speak French to, and who to speak English to.


Anyways, it is getting late for I will sign off for now. Talk to you next week.
John