Off to Congo

Exactly twenty years ago I set foot on African soil for the first time in Kinshasa. I was 19 and the confrontation with Mobutu's Zaire broadened my horizon not only geographically but even more politically. Now I'm preparing to go back to Kinshasa for M3M/intal, our NGO, memories from the first trip come back to my mind. The smell, the sound, the taste,... the Congo is really unique. I still remember how determined I was to go back to that wonderful country. Eventually it would take 20 years to bring me back. I'm sure much has changed and much has remained the same. Maybe I have changed the most. In any case, I'm looking forward to another confrontation with the heart of Africa.

It's a dirty war

I finally took time to read the recent Human Rights Watch report on the Philippines. "Scared Silent: Impunity for Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines" is worth the time, not so much for the analysis, because we've read it already so many times, but for the numerous personal testimonies. The authors interviewed many relatives of the victims. Even if I have read many of them before, and even interviewed some of them in person myself, the sheer number of personal testimonies in the report is emotionally overwhelming and leaves one without much doubt about the involvement of the Philippine military in the killings.

Interestingly, HRW talks about a "dirty war" to describe the situation in the Philippines. Knowing the situation on the ground, I couldn't agree more.