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

Tags

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.

A Day on Capitol Hill with Young African Leaders, Power Africa, and the Library of Congress

Tags

Africa Policy Breakfast Series, Cote d'Ivoire, Ex-Im Bank, General Electric, Ghana, Heirs Holdings, IVLP, Karen Bass, Liberia Newspapers, Mimi Alemayehou, OPIC, Power Africa, Power Africa focus countries selection criteria, Rwanda, Shaka Ssali, Symbion Power, Togo, Tony Elumelu, YALI

The room was dominated by portraits of old white men, including one holding a poodle.

Yesterday feelings of patriotism stirred in my bosom as I attended the Africa Policy Breakfast Series sponsored by Rep. Karen Bass (D – CA), a two panel Senate hearing on Power Africa, and I then passed a few hours reading Liberian newspapers at the Library of Congress before venturing over to New America and Arizona State.  It still strikes me as pretty cool that I can rub shoulders with prominent dignitaries and attend congressional hearings in person.

Mathilde Mukantabana, Rwandan Ambassador to the US on pan-Africanism, Kagame’s Tenure, and Genocide

Tags

African Civilization, ASG, Georgetown, Mathilde Mukantabana, pan-Africanism, Paul Kagame, Rwanda, Rwanda Genocide, Rwandan Ambassador to the US, ubuntu

The final speaker at the African Society of Georgetown’s 2 day conference this weekend was Mathilde Mukantabana, who I understand was recently named Rwanda’s Ambassador to the United States.  I found Mukantabana to be a particularly appropriate speaker as she has spent much of her life in the Diaspora, serving as a professor of history in California until her appointment.  Her wide ranging comments certainly alluded to that background.  She referenced pan-African giants from this hemisphere like WEB DuBois and Marcus Garvey, from Africa, such as Kwame Nkrumah and spoke of African philosophies that she saw as being relevant across Africa, such as Ubuntu.

African Society of Georgetown: Uniting Africa for a Promising Future

Tags

Action Africa, African Women Cancer Awareness Association, Aisha Audu, Asratie Teferra, Boko Haram, Books for Africa, Georgetown, Ify Nwabukwu, Jackson Mvunganyi, Kogi State, Nigeria, Rwanda

I stumbled out of bed early on Saturday morning to head over to the annual pan-African conference of the African Society of Georgetown, a 2 day event with a heavy flavor of local DC representation.  I didn’t make the Friday evenings events, but they seem to have had more of a distinct Georgetown flavor with faculty and students moderating several breakout discussion sessions.

The keynote speaker was Mathilde Mukantabana, Rwanda’s Ambassador to the US, I’ll aim to have a separate post on her remarks up Monday.

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

Tags

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.

Security & Development – the DRC’s Prime Minister at the Wilson Center

Tags

Cynthia Akuetteh, Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, Joseph Kabila, M23, Matata Ponya Mapon, Rwanda, Steve McDonald

Today I attended a talk by the Prime Minister of the Congo, Augustin Matata Ponyo Mapon, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Cynthia Akuetteh (who arrived late with traffic as her excuse), at the Wilson Center.  While the comments by both were representative of typical sterile government speak (which in my DC experience has been best epitomized by Under Secretary Hormats), each were brief, allowing for a rather lengthy Q&A.  Several ambassadors were in the audience – Zambia, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, and most interestingly the ambassador of Rwanda.  The last three asked questions, so that presented a particularly striking opportunity.

The translation headsets suffered technical difficulties throughout (the PM spoke in French and most of the questions were in French as well), although my Peace Corps and high school French was generally good enough to keep me from getting lost (surprisingly).  The Director of the Wilson Center’s Africa Program, Steve McDonald (whose bio indicated that his undergrad specialization was French) struggled to translate on the fly and called into service the PM’s personal translator.

Aside from a celebration of the DRC’s ascendant economic prowess, most of the conversation focused on the precarious security situation in the east of the Congo.  Both the DAS and PM were relatively critical of Rwanda and the Ambassador (speaking in English) used his question time to rebut this assertion.  While he made a somewhat convincing argument that the détente from 2009 to 2012 (following the arrest of Laurent Nkunda) was the result of Rwandan efforts to support peace, there was no explanation as to why that peace deteriorated.  He may have eventually gone in that direction, but the numerous members of the Congolese diaspora in the audience (who had previously been rather critical of the PM) turned against him and shouted him down, despite McDonald’s feeble attempts to assert his own preeminence as moderator.

Ultimately, the talk revealed little of substance, however it certainly illuminated the high and intense passion surrounding DRC – Rwanda relations and the poor relations of the Congolese diaspora with the Kabila administration.  One of the more interesting nuggets (that came out in the bio sheet, not the talk) was that PM Mapon appears to have been educated exclusively in the DRC (at the University of Kinshasha).