CNN reports on President Joseph Kabila’s reaction to being confronted with his military raping ethnic women in his country’s insecure East.
My knowledge of the Congolese situation is shaky at best. I do know that it is possibly the one humanitarian situation that can compete with Darfur as the world’s worst. Joseph Kabila came to power when his father, Laurent Kabila, was assasinated in 2001. The elder Kabila himself had enjoyed only a brief reign, as most of his life was spent as a rebel against Mobutu Sese Seko, one of the more brutal dictators in Central Africa. Congo has mindblowing mineral wealth and could easily became the first African superpower if it ever got its act together. Joseph Kabila is running for election in Congo’s first contested race in decades, but as so often is the case in this region, the ability of democracy to stick is unclear.