Congo
Congo – Condition Critical
[video:youtube:I-LJEdCiMEc] Médecins Sans Frontières launch their Congo – Condition Critical campaign this Thursday. Last week I did some training for the folks at the MSF offices in London and promised to give this very worthwhile campaign a push here. If you can help MSF get the word out, please do pass on the video and […]
Thomas Scheen freed
Belgian journalist Thomas Scheen, who was kidnapped by Mai Mai militia in the DRC earlier this week, has been released after being held captive for three days, “We thank all those in Germany, Belgium and Congo who worked intensively over the past days for the release of Thomas Scheen and his co-workers, especially the German […]
Radio journalist killed in Congo
Alfred Nzonzo Bitwahiki is reportedly among 20 killed in a battle for control of Kiwanja in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Radio Racou journalist was confirmed killed by Human Rights Watch. The International Federation of Journalists has released a statement condemning the killing, “Our colleagues covering the conflict in the eastern part of the […]
Thomas Scheen kidnapped in Congo
Thomas Scheen has been named as the Belgian journalist kidnapped by the Mai Mai in the village of Mabenga in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sheen works for the German daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Contacts have been opened with people involved or able to help with his release,” he added. The abduction happened in […]
Click for Congo
Janeen Heath at the Pulitzer Center argues for keeping Congo in the headlines now that the US election is over and violence in the DRC has escalated yet again. However, as she argues in her post on the Untold Stories blog, space for international news coverage in general and in the US in particular is […]
Belgian journalist seized
A Belgian journalist has been kidnapped by the Mai Mai in Mabenga, 70km north of Goma in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, In nearby village of Mabenga, a Belgian journalist working for a German newspaper was kidnapped by the Mai Mai late Tuesday along with his assistant and three rebel fighters, […]
Understanding Congo
[video:youtube:NC8GzpcVY_o] Fred’s put together an excellent post detailing the background to the conflict in North Kivu in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The situation in Goma is tense, as can be seen in the Sky News report above. To get a flavour of how this feels on the ground take a look at Samantha’s […]
Background to the crisis in North Kivu
Recent turbulence in the financial market is a reminder that economic stability is heavily reliant on collective perceptions and ‘market confidence’. So it is with security, and nowhere is this more evident than in a so-called fragile state like the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is plummeting into a different kind of recession. The seemingly […]
Reuters report from Goma
[video:youtube:kirA-0BEDU0] Marlene Rabaud and Nina Schwendemann have put together an excellent report on the situation in Goma. It dates from yesterday and this story is moving fast, but it’s still worth a look. The ten minute report frames this week’s violence in Goma in the recent past relating it to the different interest groups involved. […]
Thousands flee as Goma flares
[video:youtube:3sRxXiBNQSI] Michael Kavanagh is one of a small group of journalists in Goma, the provincial capital of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on the border with Rwanda. Violence flared yesterday when protesters pelted the UN compound in Goma with stones, “We’re on alert,” Murthy said. “We’re not sure what’s in store for the future, […]
Darfur and the media attention deficit
Ethan Zuckerman asks some great questions about Darfur and media attention on his blog. I dropped a comment, but it might be worth pulling together a few threads here. The general feeling is that “attention paid to Darfur is unprecedented” – but was it? Is it? If we feed a few keywords through Silobreaker’s Media […]
This is Mike India in North Kivu
Goma flyktninger 18, originally uploaded by cyclopsr. Michel Sibilondire runs a radio station in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After a decade of war the UN hired him to run the radio show which is broadcast in four languages. The show has run for four years and, in between the Rwandan and […]
Congo Season: Media Talk -Lifting the Curse
You can now watch the event here. Are Congo’s natural resources to be found at the root of the nations problems or do they offer a key to its future development? Taking part in the debate at the Frontline Club are Muzong Kodi, a research fellow at the Royal Institute for International Affairs, Tricia […]
In the picture with Marcus Bleasdale
[video:brightcove:1557911521] Photographer Marcus Bleasdale talks about his work in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Frontline Club during Congo Season. Marcus has worked in Congo over the past ten years so. He originally went there to see if the cliche was true. We’ve interviewed Marcus on the blog before.
Congo Season
[video:youtube:rnW3ZnU3mSo] Between 6th – 16th May the Frontline Club is hosting a Congo Season. The club has put together a short video highlighting the main issues in present day Congo. There are a number of interesting discussions scheduled and I’ll be uploading video from the season as it becomes available. Here’s what’s coming up May […]
Demystifying the Congo
A video to promote a series of events at the Frontline Club. I wrote an article on the topic of Victorian-era clichés and the Congo for the current issue of the From the Frontline newsletter. I’m grateful to Tim Butcher and Rory MacLean for the friendly exchange that gave rise to the piece.
Kevin Sites sewing workshops
Kevin Sites is moving on from the Yahoo funded Hot Zone war reporting project he is most well known for. He is working on what sounds like a gimmicky show called People of the web. Sites believes war reporters need to focus on people and not combat, “The combat, which may only last a couple […]
Best of Photojournalism awards 2008
The results in the judging for Best of Photojournalism 2008 are now in. The winners in the International news category can be found here. Cedric Gerbehaye, working for Agence VU, and publsihed in Newsweek won second prize for the image from Congo above. For the full list of winners click through here.
See the world
It must be a remarkable thing to grow up in rural Nepal, join the army, fight a guerilla insurgency in your own Himalayan backyard, and then be given a blue hat and deployed to militia-ridden, gold-rich Ituri, north-east Congo. Since few Nepalese soldiers speak French, let alone Swahili, they have to rely on local interpreters. […]
Off to the frontline
This guy got his marching orders today and is setting off to join his unit in an operational zone near Rumangabo in North Kivu, eastern Congo. Transport is not provided, so he’ll probably flag down vehicles along the way. He won’t have to pay… Interesting that he’s taking the stereo too. The army is officially […]
Media priorities
It’s hard not not hard to agree with the first comment on this blog about Frontline Club member Marcus Bleasdale’s multimedia report from the Democratic Republic of Congo. “nonstop media coverage because one of our Governors had some sex with an expensive whore, but this gets nothing.” link The commenter is, of course, referring to […]
Conflict economics
Frontline club member, photojournalist and regular in these parts, Marcus Bleasdale gets the Q&A going over at the Santa Barbara’s Independent prior to a talk he is giving a UCSB next month. Marcus’ work focusses on Africa, in particular the Democratic Republic of Congo. Money, he says, is at the root of all conflict, These […]
A night on the road
The truck’s ‘extrication kit’ included shovels and a jack to deal with the mud; tools and spares for the Japanese diesel engine; and documents, cigarettes and whisky to ease our way through military checkpoints. We flew an identifying flag and had called the relevant field commanders before leaving. We were carrying supplies for a hospital […]
Bleasdale on the BBC
Frontline member and photojournalist, Marcus Bleasdale, is interviewed by Chris Vallance from BBC Radio 5 Live’s Pods and blogs show. You can listen the download here. Marcus talks about his work in the Democratic Republic of Congo and his use of multimedia. His is the second interview slot on the show. Incidentally, Chris showed up […]
Close up of a peace agreement
Choice observations upon examination of the recent peace agreement in eastern Congo: Percentage of signatories using green pens: 0.05 Missing from the multimedia archives: audio file of the collective sigh of relief by 1,200 delegates when they heard, after several hours of speculation-filled delay, that the document had been signed. Number of days from signature […]
Marcus on MediaStorm, Fred on the frontline
Marcus Bleasdale emails to tell us about a stunning new multimedia package he has produced for MediaStorm. It’s called Rape of a Nation. It includes Marcus’ incredible black and white photographs, interviews with the photographer and video footage. You can watch the 12 minute production by clicking the video above or visiting the MediaStorm site […]
Can compromises bring peace at last?
Did you know that eastern Congo gets struck by lightning more often than anywhere else in the world? It’s usually preferable to agree some sort of ceasefire before holding formal talks. Suspending hostilities – however temporarily – is the polite thing to do. It builds confidence, sets the tone, and helps the concentration. But no […]
Marcus Bleasdale back from Congo
Frontline Club member Marcus Bleasdale has spent the best part of the last decade in and out of Congo taking photographs of the ongoing conflict. As well as contributing to newspapers and magazines, Marcus documented his work in the book One hundred years of darkness. The book was recognised in the best photojournalism books of […]
Journalists in Congo
A great essay from Congolese journalist Fidel Bafilemba Bienda about the ongoing situation in Congo, western media’s lack of interest, UN “peacekeeping” and the deaths of local journalists, …I wish we would get more journalists to come here and see for themselves. But as fighting continues and innocent people die, the countries that should be […]
Blood River
In 1992, I sat on the banks of the great Zaire River and watched Congolese cannibalise their capital, Kinshasa, looting shops, destroying buildings and ripping copper wire from telephone lines. As drunken looters drove brand new cars out of showrooms straight into the nearest walls, one had scrawled on the last remaining unbroken plate glass […]
