CSIS: A Western Journalist Speaks on the Congo and a Former US Ambassador in the DRC Obliquely Criticizes Rwanda

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AllAfrica, Anjan Sundaram, Congo, CSIS, Nii Akuetteh, Paul Kagame, Rwanda, Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo, Tami Hultman, William Garvelink

Sundaram speaking with Hultman

I recently complained about remarks I heard by former US Ambassador in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, William Garvelink.  He spoke at CSIS yesterday at a book event for Anjan Sundaram, who has recently published a book on his experiences as a journalist in the Congo from 2005 – 2007 (he went there right after graduating from Yale).  I thought that I might be able to get another sourpuss post from yesterday’s event, but that was not particularly the case (at least in regards to Garvelink).  That honor went to Tami Hultman, co-founder of AllAfrica.

Mining the Congo Basin at the DC Environmental Film Festival, Glorifying Gabon

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Africa, Ali Bongo Ondimba, Cameroon, Congo, Congo River Basin, DC Environmental Film Festival, DC Israel Embassy Protest, Gabon, Heart of Iron, Leo Bottrill, Republic of the Congo, Tridom, Wilson Center, World Wildlife Fund

Bottrill at Right (I need a new camera phone)

The ongoing Environmental Film Festival has screened numerous flicks with an Africa focus (how had I not heard about this annual event before?). Yesterday, I got my day started with a voyage to the Wilson Center, to watch a double feature of Forests on Film, sponsored by Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP).  The second film, Heart of Iron: Mining in the Congo Basin, examined Tridom, a remote region 6x the size of Belgium, straddling Gabon, Cameroon, and the Republic of the Congo, rich in iron ore reserves.

Lauren Sinclair at American University on the Role of US Academia in the Nigerian Civil War

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Africa Cold War, African Studies Association, American University, Biafra, Carl Levan, CIA, Congo, Conor Cruise O'Brien, international education, Lauren Sinclair, New York University, Nigeria, Nigeria Civil War

Cold War African history is one of my favorite topics to discuss, so I had to manufacture an excuse to get out of work yesterday and hear Lauren Sinclair, a PhD student at NYU speak at American University on ‘Situating the Nigerian Civil War in US-Africa Cold War Policy.’  My already high levels of excitement soared to even greater heights when I discovered that she is managing to tackle this topic while pursuing a degree in International Education – my ideal career field.

Brookings Meekly Explores Africa’s 2014 Priorities with an Eminent Panel on #ForesightAfrica

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Africa in 2014, African Development, Bright Simons, Brookings Institution, Central Africa, Congo, George Clooney, IT in Africa, John McArthur, John Prendergast, Makhtar Diop, Robin Sanders, Senegal, World Bank

From L to R: McArthur, Diop, Sanders, Simons, Prendergast, and Sy (who is cut off)

Yesterday, I ventured down the street to the Brookings Institution for my first policy event of the year, ‘Top Priorities for Africa in 2014.’  The panelists (of which there was a large number) were quite impressive: Former US Ambassador to Nigeria and the Congo, Robin Sanders, Co-Founder of the Enough Project, John Prendergast, Bright Simons, President of a technology start-up in Ghana, Makhtar Diop, VP for Africa at the World Bank, and Amadou Sy, a Senegalese resident at Brookings.  John McArthur did an able job filling in for the flu-stricken Helene Cooper as moderator.

While it was good to get back in the swing of things and hear from the prominent speakers, the broad nature of the topic, the large number of panelists, and the limited time available led to a lot of broad generalizations and generic prescriptions for the continent’s development.  As I’ve said at similar events before, I’m sure that most of those in the audience would have been qualified to make the same remarks.

Meeting Readers at the African Studies Association Meeting this Friday, Talking about Belgian Refugees in Africa

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African Studies Association, Afrobeats, Baltimore, Belgian Refugees in Kenya, Congo, Nairobi

As previously mentioned, I’ll be presenting at the ASA’s in Baltimore this Friday (that’s the only day I’ll be there – no one came through with housing support).  If anyone would like to meet, discuss, or chastise me, I’d love to connect with new faces.

I’ll be presenting on Belgian Refugees who fled the Congo via Kenya, following the independence of the former country in July 1960.  I don’t know a lot about either country and I’ve never been to the Congo, but I’m counting on the fact that my topic is sufficiently unique that there won’t be anyone able to call me out on any weaknesses in my paper.

I think that this topic is fairly novel (though it was of great import in Nairobi in July 1960) and mirrors what I try to do on this blog, which is to take full advantage of my personal soapbox to call things out that upset me, praise those that please me, and trying to (somewhat) gently remind others about a few of the important currents that are getting overlooked in the mainstream.

After covering a series of Afrobeats shows and querying why many of my young professional peers with academic African interests do not seem to match their professed love of African culture with the appropriate corresponding actions, I’m looking forward to examining ‘white Africans’ of Belgian origin, a short-lived phenomenon if ever there was one.

Wole Soyinka at Howard University: In Praise of Rwanda’s Kagame and in Defiance of Gambia’s Jammeh, Or Tearing a New one for African Leaders

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Abdoulaye Wade, Boko Haram, Congo, Gambia, Howard University, Laurent Gbagbo, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, Wole Soyinka, Yahya jammeh

At Howard University last evening (only my second time there for an event), Wole Soyinka ostensibly spoke on the theme of ‘Rwanda: Paradigm for a Continent.’  The scene was set by a call and response between the Howard administrator presiding over the event and the predominantly student audience, something that was a far cry from the staid environment at events at the New England liberal arts school I attended.

The Nigerian Wole Soyinka, one of the continent’s undisputed intellectual giants gave an extremely hard hitting talk, which was as much about Gambia being a blight on Africa’s image than Rwanda being its savior.  Keep reading for Soyinka’s thoughts and why his handling of a Q&A made me lose all respect for him, after a pretty good set of prepared remarks.