Kadhalika

Introducing a new name to an old section: Kadhalika, meaning et cetera in Swahili. A big name for my links to other articles of interest on the web.

• Colette Braeckman, probably the best known foreign journalist in the Congo, posted an article on her blog called: "Some questions about the Systeme Kabila." Braeckman is hard to predict - she has often be criticized for being too favorable to the various governments in the region, both Kinshasa and Kigali (quite a feat), and once even published an article that was very favorable towards Nkunda. But now she has come out with an article that is very critical of Kabila here.
• The International Conference on the Great Lakes (ICGLR) finished a meeting last week on natural resources and conflict. I don't have the details, but they apparently agreed on a certification scheme for minerals. More here.
• A good compilation of views on press freedom in Rwanda, on the occasion of the banning of the two main Kinyarwanda newspapers.
• A nice list of blogs on Africa, compiled by African Politics Conference Group (kudos to Texas in Africa). All the nicer because I'm on it.
• More indications that a Canadian general might take over the lead of MONUC's military. But this doesn't apparently mean that Canadian troops would come to bolster MONUC on the ground.