Daily Links

Press Briefing: A hundred or so Congolese demonstrated in Paris this weekend demanding that Francois Hollande not attend the Francophonie Summit set for Kinshasa later this year. Afrikarabia says the demonstration was marred by the presence of some members of Mobutu's government and notes that the French ambassador to DRC has indicated that France has every intention of participating in the Summit.

Various outlets report on the ambitious first 100-day roadmap of the government announced last month by Prime Minister Matata Ponyo. (For a good analysis see Trefon.) The roadmap outlines six goals to further the government's agenda of promoting redistribution of income with sustainable growth. Most journals are suitably skeptical, but some are hopeful that the goals may inject some needed accountability into the political system. L'Avenir calls the PM's roadmap a "sword of Damocles" hanging over the newly named ministers, "who are now accountable to the whole nation," while La Republique calls it a crazy stunt.

Congo Opinion reports that the CNDP has resigned from the presidential majority coalition in the national assembly.

Le Congolais reports that the opposition, including UDPS-FAC and the UNC, hasn't yet been able to agree on a spokesperson.

The BBC has a nice piece on rural Congolese women who have established local savings and loan associations. They receive training from an international NGO but all the money they assemble and loan out to each other is their own.

Uhaki News reports that food prices are shooting up in Goma, as a result of the region's growing insecurity.


This past weekend was the second anniversary of Floribert Chibeya's assassination, which was observed in Kinshasa with a mass and a convocation. An op-ed in Le Potential notes that his killer remains unknown. The executive director of Vois des Sans Vois, Rostin Manketa, took the occasion to call on the national assembly to pass a bill to protect human rights defenders.

In happier news, for the first time in 14 years, plans are in place to select a Miss Congo on June 23 in Kinshasa, to represent the country in the Ms. World contest in China this October.