Foreign Policy Blogs

Status Quo Ante

With the chaos in Zimbabwe and the utter catastrophe that is Sudan, it is easy to let the evergreen of African nightmares slip across the transom unnoticed. But rest assured, the Democratic Republic of the Congo still stands astride Africa's Big Men like a colossus. The DRC may temporarily find itself displaced in this dubious game, but that status usually does not last long. Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is visiting Congo-Kinshasa this week and has declared that "Grave human rights violations occur almost every day in DRC as the perpetrators are encouraged by a climate of impunity that reigns virtually throughout this country."