Les chroniques de la diaspora

Picture from un.org (celebration of November 25 in Monrovia)

The last thirty years have been difficult for the Congo Brazzaville. It started with the abondamment of the socialist regime which has been adopted by the country since 1963. In 1991, after a national conference, during which the country has decided to change the form of government, the Congo adopted a democratic regime with a president that was elected. Since then, the country has been affected by an instability due to civil unrest, war and really serious conflict that takes roots in the tribal diversity.With this instability, the Congolese women conditions have been deteriorated. Women have seen a rise of violence against them that was not known before the multiple wars that the country went to.the nature of violence against women can been notice in the rise of cases of rape, violence that are rooted in’ the traditions and customs still persists. Besides, all these cases there is a lack of judiciary protections for women. Our thoughts on this month of March, the women month as it has been referred, are focused on these issues.

ThenatureofviolenceagainstwomenintheCongoBrazzaville

After the multiple civil wars and the political instability that followed, the Congo Brazzaville have a significant amount of cases of rape. The other form of violence is rooted on the custom and tradition.

Rape against women

In recent years, rape has been become the number one cause of violence against women. Rape has not always been common in Congolese society. The cases of rape were really rare. However, by the the early 90´s , the country went into a lot of political events that created a lot of civil unrest, tribal conflicts and wars. We think about the war, in 1993 and 1994, another armed conflict in 1997 and 1998, and the most recent one that started in 2016 and it is still going on.

This atmosphere of war has left the Congolese women very vulnerable. In fact, a report by a NGO Medecin sans frontières , published in french by Francoise Bouchet-Saulnier, it said that a thousand of women raped during the civil war presented themselves at the hospital called Makelekele in Brazzaville in 1999.These are only the cases that have been reported. With the new war that is going on at this very moment, some new cases of rape have been reported by sources that have not been verified yet by leschroniquesdeladiaspora.com

Other form of violence

In Brazzaville, violence of other nature than rape, still exist. In fact many women are still being beaten by their husbands, partners or significant other. In most cases, it is not reported on the media because it has been commonly accepted that it is ok for a man to correct his wife by beating them. This is not ok and it should not be.A study conducted in 2015, by the Congo Brazzaville minister of women rights promotion concluded that among the 600 women that were surveyed , 62% of them were victims of physical, emotional, mental and psychological violence.(ref actualités.agenceinfonet.com).The sad part is that there seem to be a lack of protection.

Lack of protection from violence

In the Congo Brazzaville , the laws to protect women against violence of all nature exist. The Congo model his judiciary system to that of France. Therefore, most laws that are recognized in France are in the Congo. The penal code of the Congo Brazzaville recognizes all sort of violence that women can be subject to. And the same code goes even further by recognizing sexual abuse during conflicts. This is the case of article 330 and 340.

However, these laws that were meant to protect women are not well known in the country. Often, all cases of rape, physical and psychological abuse are not reported to the authorities. Women are still vulnerable and lack protection against all sort of violence against them.

The cases of rape during war is even worst. In fact, for these particular cases the government or maybe the entire society failed to protect those women who were victims of sexuel violence during the events or civil war of 1993-1994, 1997, and 1997-1998. A law number 21-99, of December 20 1999, gave an amnesty to all those who committed war crimes such as rape…The purpose of this amnesty was to reconcile the Congolese society with itself, to promote peace. However the well being of women was not taken in consideration.

The Congolese women are still vulnerable to violence. Society has so far failed to protect women. That why,on this day of women international day, our thoughts really go to those women who have all their life have to live with the burden of violence and its consequences. So many of them are raped everyday. May God protect all women who victims of violence all around the world.

Today, leschroniquesdeladiaspora.com is sharing natural recipes that helps nourish and hydrate our natural hair. Afro natural hair tend to be dry and fragile. In tropical regions, this phenomenon is not often experienced because of humidity. However, in the temperate climate, it is necessary to keep hair nourished and hydrated in order to avoid breakage. The first recipe is a capillaire masque that is made of ingredients found in our own kitchen.

Ingrédients :
– ½ Avocado ( a whole avocado depending on the length of your hair)

– 1 egg yolk ( for the shine)
½ Banana  ( a whole banana depending on your length)
– 1 tablespoon of honey
– 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Put avocado and banana in a bowl. Smash and mix it together, add a tablespoon of honey, an egg yolk, and a tablespoon spoon of olive oil. Once you get a homogenous mix, this ultra nourishing mix can be used once a week to hydrate natural hair.
Before shampooing your hair, separate them into four parts . Apply this natural mix on your hair from the roots to the end. Cover your hair with a warm towel or a shower cap. Let the mix sit on your hair for about 2 hours. For ultra dryness, the mix can be kept on your hair overnight.
Then you can shampoo your hair using your normal shampooing process( shampoo, conditioner, and after shampoo).
The effective way of getting rid of the mask residues is to do a dry shampoo first. This by applying the shampoo in your hair with a tiny bit of water, you rinse your hair. You will secondly apply shampoo on your wet hair. This process is really effective to completely wash the mask out your hair.
For better results, the mask need to be used once a week for at least a month. Also, if you have any leftover, you can keep it in the fridge for 3 days.

According to multiple news agencies ( CNN, Radio France Inter and Reuters) Zuma , président of South Africa has announced his resignation as president of the republic of South Africa on Wednesday February the 14th. This resignation come after the ruling party, ANC has decided to call for a no confidence vote against the president.

This resignation is a bit extraordinary because it happens in Africa where, it is uncommon for powerful people to quit easily. The institutions are usually weakened by the power that leadership has. It is therefore interesting for the ANC to show to other political parties in the continent,what a political party should be and the power should belong to the people through their institutions.

The other interesting thing is just the African youth is getting wiser in a way that the realized that they need to fight their life and put an end to the non sense that is going on in the political life in the continent. President Zuma even refer to them as “clever blacks” in 2012. According to Reuters,  Zuma , during an address to  South Africa national house of traditional leaders said “black people became too clever. They became the most eloquent in criticizing themselves about their own traditions. This just to say how the youth is becoming really informed about the issues.

These resignation put an end to a presidency plagued with a lot of scandals and controversy. Among those scandals are:

-1990 the president of South Africa was facing 783 counts of corruption over $2.5 billlion government arms deal when he was deputy president of ANC.

– He faced accusations of raping his friend daughter and was actually charged  and acquitted in 2006

-2010 President Zuma apologized to South African for fathering a child out of wedlock with a friend daughter.

These are scandals among many more cases of corruption that plagued Zuma during his tenure as president of South Africa. Hopefully this resignation and the circumstances that led to it will shine a light on the fact that the institutions must always have to be powerful.  And maybe this will put a end to seing corruption as business as usual in many countries of Africa.

By now, we all know that on Tuesday January the 9 th of 2018, it was revealed that during a meeting with the senators on the DACA, the president of the USA was wondering why  we have to bring people from the “shithole countries” of Africa and Haiti. We should bring people from Norway instead. The entire world was shocked by these comments,  qualifying them of racist comments.

In the USA , the media and governining elite was in shock . And call these comments in general unfortunate and beneath the dignity of the office. They mostly considered these comments as reaching a new level of vulgarity given what the president has been let them used to. It is not a laughing matter anymore because some of the elite in the African Americans community are from Haitian descents, African descents.  The Haitian ambassador in the USA has ask for an explanation of the president comments from the US officials according to the Washington post article of Friday January the 12. The ambassador went on to say that “ the president was either misinformed or miseducated about people from Haiti” . Most people in the black community was not shocked because they knew he was racist anyway. Their attitude was we told you so. All we can do is beat him at the the ballot. When someone show you who he is the first time you ought to believe him.

In Africa, the elite was quick to condemn this comments. The African Union through its spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo said “the African Union Commission is frankly alarmed at statements by the president of the United States of America when referring to migrants from African countries and other in such contemptuous terms. Considering the historical reality of how many Africans arrived in the USA during the Atlantic slaves trade, this flies in face of all accepted behavior”.  A South African broadcaster in South Africa start his greeting by “ good morning from the greatest, the most beautiful shithole country in the world”. The serious reaction came the deputy secretary of ANC who said “ours is not a shithole country neither is Haiti or any other country”.  The president of Senegal where the Gorree island that symbolizes the Atlantic slaves trade put out statements in French  sayin that he rejects the statement by the president of the US and that Africa deserves respect and consideration “ je les rejette et les condamne fermement. L’Afrique mérite le respect et la considération de tous”. The entire world was en fire everyone reacted in their way condemning racism and bigotry. There was however a particular reactions from people living in Africa and the African diaspora of the France and other that caught my attention.

The Africans in Africa who live the political, economical and social reality of the continent and those who in the diaspora are directly impacted by these reality had a different take to the president of the United comments. First they applauded the president if USA for showing to the world that he is an adversary for those shitehole countries. At least he is not like some other who welcome you today and stub you in your back. This is a comment read on the RFI( radio France international) page à comment made by an African “voilà un adversaire de taille! Lui au moins on le qualifie d’adversauté qui ne mâche pas ses mots, qui ne cache pas ses sentiments aux yeux des africains. Il n’est pas comme ceux qui t’accueillent aujourd’hui et qui te poignardent sur ton”.

Some others turn the “shithole countries” comments to a protest against the governing elite of African countries. Many of them wonder why these African elite where quickly becoming emotionally shocked by these comments. The truth is that there is a sentiment among African in the diaspora and those in Africa that the African governing elite, and the elite of the ex colonial master work against the interest of the people of Africa. This strange relationship based on natural resources exploitation and corruption  is the main cause of misery in Africa. Needless to say that Africa is the land to a bunch of natural resources ( Colton, oil, gold, diamonds and so for) that are used by multinational companies and the people in those land do not enjoy wealth coming from their own land. The war in the  Democratic republic of Congo(DRC ) and even in the republic of Congo is an example among many others. The comment by president of the USA was used against the African governing elite by reminding them the abuse they exercise against their own people which actually help them to practice mal governance and stay by force in power  for a long time .  According to one commentary, these African elite do not honor the continent by their practices anyway, they abuse their power and they are bunch of sale out to the multinationals that exploit the African resources so this African said exactly this “ je n’en veux pas a Trump. J’en veux aux dirigeants africains. Quand on analyse bien, on trouve une part de vérité dans ce qu’il dit. Nos dirigeants ne font rien qui puisse donner l’honneur à notre continent. Ils pillent nos richesses, ils s’etermisent au pouvoir.”  Comment from the RFI page of Friday January 12.

These réactions from the African did attract my attention because beyond the emotional aspect of the president of the USA calling some countries “shithole countries, there have to be some time of strategy on the part of the African elite. To tell you the truth, there is an awakening that is going on the part of the people Africa in Africa and the diaspora. We need level our reaction beyond the emotional aspect and focus on the strategic aspect of the issues. We need to strategize in order to find ways to destroy the relationship between natural resources exploitation, corruption, bad governance, wars and misery. The people of the world have the obligation to address these issues. It does not have to be that the happiness of certain people need to be found in the misery of other.

Les chroniques de la diaspora NEWSLETTER
Novembre 18 2017

The march against the enslavement of African in Libya
On Saturday, November the 18th Paris woke up to big march organized by a collective of black rights organizations to protest against the inhuman detentions of Africans who are trying to reach Europe for a better life. The march was announced by Claude Siar after a video shown on CNN which was telling the story of the young African who are being sold as merchandise in Libya.
What is going on with these images? Apparently, during the last few years ,many young Africans have been trying to reach Europe through a human trafficking organized by smugglers on the Mediterranean Sea. These young people spend a lot of money from their countries of origin mostly in the sub saharan Africa. Many of them do not reach their destination because of the dangers they encounter during the trip on the Mediterranean Sea . Many of them have lost their life on the Mediterranean. This situation has become what is called an immigration crisis. According to a lot of media, to remedy to the immigration crisis, the Eu has signed an agreement with the Libyan government to stop the flow of immigrants by detaining those who cross the Sahara in order to reach the Mediterranean Sea for a chance to reach Europe, in Libya.  Some other medias are reporting that the idea of  » welcome centers was thrown out last August during a conference held in Paris in front of some European countries and some African countries especially Niger and Libya. And according to what they are reporting the idea was abandoned.

However, these detentions ( or life in these welcoming centers ) have been awful, inhuman and because of the lawlessness of the political situation in Libya, the African youth have beaten, rapped and even sold as slaves in a slave markets in an organized auction as we have seen in movies like « Roots ».These is an abomination, a crime against humanity. Slavery in the 21 st century is unacceptable and should be condemned in all its forms

These young Africans are willing to put their life in danger for a hope to get a better life in the western society. The misery that we see in Africa is unbelievable. Many of these countries have all sort of natural resources that are used in the western oil, gold, uranium, bauxite, diamonds and so for..Multinational companies exploit these resources in the continent however the  lives of the people of Africa have not changed they live in most miserable conditions. On top of these multinationals exploitation of resources that do not improve the living standards of Africans, have the head of states who are acting poorly. They do not impove living conditions to try to retain their youth in the continent. Most of these states are dictatorships, where corruption and bad governance  are the name of the game. They do not have real plans for education, for security, for jobs, the youth is completely hopeless. Only a minority of people enjoy a decent lifestyle and they exhibit their opulence toward those who don’t have.
That is why ,at the march at the Libya representation in Paris, the organizer of the march were condemning, Libya, the Eu and the Africans head of states for the enslavement of the Africans in Libya.

we are also learning that an investigation has been open in Tripoli and those who are doing these barbaric acts will be held accountable for their actions.
By Prisca p

Growing up, many young people of my generation dreamed to pursue their studies abroad. The deal was, work hard until you get your baccalaureate or high school diploma, then the incentive was to go abroad to study in higher educational institutions somewhere in Europe and America. The reason why many of African youth end up in the industrialized world, is that those who have studied in these countries, once home, occupy the most important positions or jobs in their home countries. They quickly become members of the elite or simply member of upper class. They become politician, executives, university Lecturers, business men and society has higher regards for them.   Another reason is just the opportunities that the western world presents to everyone. For the youth, that is not interested in higher education, the goal is to get a job opportunity that can help them raise some money in order to begin a lucrative project. This will help them to care of their family members.

However, once in the foreign land, this youth is faced with a variety lot of challenges that will eventually deviate their dreams of returning home. The first situation that creates a challenge is simply the opportunities  that this new society presents to them.   We have to keep in mind, that these young people come,  in most cases from countries where  there are  conflicts,  dictatorships, where the judicial systems are not functional,  where corruption in all its form is the name of the game, and the value of human being is sometimes not taken seriously. In the West the human being is dignified, the rule of law is applied according to the book and corruption even if it might exists, it is not to an extend to which everybody has accepted it as the rule of law. Also, the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press are guaranteed and are not taken for granted , leave alone the fact that they witness  the democratic system, how it is the better  political system. In way that in this system everyone is given a fair shot .

The other opportunities  that are provided in the western world is the fact that the inalienable rights are guaranteed for everybody as long as you play by the rules. After  a long  time of trying to integrate these societies, after  being educated in the western educational institutions, after entering the job market in the west, after simply becoming members of these societies, a dilemma is progressively presented itself to the African youth. The dilemma is should you go back to serve the continent or should you stay in the foreign land that has accepted you as human being.

A lot African elites are flying the continent because of dictatorships. As we must know a dictatorship is characterized by the rule of one individual or a few people. There is not freedom of speech or freedom of the press, corruption and bad governance which create economies that are based in the pursue of the wellbeing of all. In fact, the it creates an anti-growth type of the economy. The government is corrupt, the educational and healthcare systems are precarious and the job market completely  absent. It therefore difficult for those who have been living in the western world for many good years to decide to go back to the lands of their birth. It is  sad to say this, but after a while the decision is really hard to make.With this situation, Africa is losing its  people who are well formed and educated. In fact, they acquire a lot of experiences through the education system, through the job experience some even are opening businesses.  But all this knowledge has not yet served the continent has it should.  Today youth has an open mind on all aspects of life whether it is  gouvernement, rights, healthcare, social justice, business, and so on. The number one element of economic development is demographics. And the continent of Africa has a big advantage to that regard, all it need today is to clean its political environment of the bad seeds that are destroying the hopes of the many.

Lire la suite « The big African dilemma »

September 18 2017  kicks off the annual general assembly of the United Nations. This is an occasion for leaders of the entire world to get together and discuss the many issues that are going on the world. It is an occasion for the people of the world to give a thought on this world body’s work. We are allow here to wonder if the objectives that the United Nations set for itself are sustainable in today’s world. At today’s opening words of the general assembly session,a prominent world leader call for the need to  » reform the United Nations in order to better serve the people it represents. »  Indeed, the UN does need to be refomed in order to adress the needs of today’s world.  Therefore, what types of reforms will better serve the people leaving in Africa.

We ought to give the UN its main merit and achievement the maintenance of international order. Since its creation, the UN had been able to maintain the world peace has it is related to the war between each states. Most conflicts had been resolved through diplomacy. And, France and Germany which had been at the center of the wars have achieved the goals of leaving in peace.  Genocide has been avoided with the exception of the one that occurred in 1994 in Rwanda.

The UN can also be accredited for its humanitarian actions. In fact, the humanitarian actions has been the main achievement of the UN. In countries where there are civil wars, the United Nations through its peace keeping mission, was able to  preserve the dignity of humans. It is for the preservation of human dignity that the United Nations broke its principle of sovereignty to intervene in Rwanda after more than a million people killed.

As we must know, the principle of sovereignty is at the essence of the United Nations existence. And its charter on article 2.7 states clearly that « Nothing contained in the present charter shall authorize the UN to intervienne in the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the members to submit such matters to settlement under the present charter. » How can the UN better serve the people it represents when the principle of sovereignty limits its actions to matters that are generated by conflicts between states but not within each states.

For couple of years, we have assisted in many constitutional crisis in some African counties of the sub Saharan zone ( the Congo, the RDC, Gabon and so for). These constitutional crisis have been generated by the manipulation of the constitution in order to maintain dictatorships within the continent leaving the people of these nations powerless. The wars within these nations do alienate human rights. In some locations because of these civil conflicts, a lot young people do not go to school for a long period of time , women are raped and the government can’t provide security for its own population. This really goes against the the universal declaration of humans rights adopted in 1948. This is just to say that there are a lot of humanitarian opportunities for the UN that we wonder if the principle of sovereignty ought to be rethink. The millennium development goals declaration in which, the UN set to eradicate extreme poverty, to achieve universal primary education, to promote gender equality and empower women, to reduce child mortality.., can not be sustainable as long as these dictatorships remained unchecked, are enjoying the principle of sovereignty that let them inflict suffering to their own people. The reform should consider as well the humanitarian crisis and not to wait for a million people to be killed in order to intervene.  One life is as important as the life of a million people.