Scattered stories that have crossed the transom of my scattered mind, with brief commentary as appropriate:
Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, argues in the Washington Post that the key to a successful United States relationship with the democratic Republic of the Congo is the development of a serious security relationship. In his words: “If the situation is to improve, we need to do the one thing that is required above all others — strengthen security, especially in eastern Congo. And by now we should have learned the hard way that there is only one way to do so — by leading through example, with the deployment of at least modest numbers of American troops, to spark a broader strengthening of the current U.N. mission.” (FYI – the UN Mission is about to be expanded.) I do not disagree, but this is one of those situations where HOW we do something is every bit as important as whether we do it. Any time that the solution is American troops the mindset must be to tread lightly, to respect local demands and desires, to network with local communities as equals, and to minimize the appearance of naked self interest. And I’d be wary of assertions such as this one, “Problems like Congo, Darfur and Somalia tend to get solved only with U.S. leadership,” from O’Hanlon’s conclusion which seems to me only to re-enforce images of American arrogance.
Peace in southern Sudan in our time? The last peace agreements have held up tenuously without resolving all of the issues between the government in Khartoum and the South. Yesterday the National Congress Party (NCP), which controls the government in Khartoum, and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the largest political party in the south, signed an accord regarding the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Signing agreements is great. Sticking to them is what matters more. Khartoum has not been great about sicking to agreements in the past, so color me skeptically optimistic, if such a mental state is possible.
Niger will be holding its national parliamentary elections in October according to a decree signed yesterday by President Mamadou Tandja, who dissolved that body in May. Tandja is not exactly the prime example of a democrat, so your wariness is warranted.
This headline sums up one positive response to the South African-based movie District 9: “Bliksem! How Afrikaners kick ass in a blockbuster”. (Bliksem is an Afrikaans word with a couple of meanings, the most literal meaning to hit or strike, but in this context, “kick ass” or “awesome” is a pretty good approximation.)