Worldcrunch
China is positioning itself as the world’s champion for renewable energy and has been heavily investing in the sector for the last 20 years. In order to support its renewables sector and consolidate the supply chain, it has also been financing mega-projects that exploit natural resources such as coal and oil — particularly in Africa.
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The sudden killing of a murderer, a sensational archeological discovery and the death of one of the greatest singers in the history of rock music.
Updated Oct. 30, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman took place in Kinshasa, Zaire on this day in 1974. What was “The Rumble in the Jungle”? “The Rumble in the Jungle” was a historic heavyweight boxing match that took place on October 30, 1974, […]
Conspiracy theories about France’s involvement in every twist and turn of African politics abound. Yet, writes Adama Wade for Dakar-based Financial Afrik, using leftover grievances of colonial influence is often a way for Africans to make excuses for their political failings.
The war in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been going on for decades, with ups and downs. An offensive by a Rwandan-backed armed group threatens to degenerate into a regional war. A forgotten war while the world looks away.
The projections from the United Nations Population Division for African demographics reveal some striking figures. And it’s up to leaders to turn it into economic growth and social vitality.
The best and the brightest, those with real vision for the future, are more likely to leave their native African countries that continue to be mired in short-term fatalism, corruption and lack of development.
Though peace is far secure between the Democratic Republic Of Congo and Rwanda, organized efforts to bring their youth together are multiplying.
It seems only the Church has managed to curb the ambitions of recent Congolese rulers Mobutu and Joseph Kabila. Now Church leaders are trying to peacefully nudge Kabila from power to avoid the bloodshed many are predicting.
DOUMANGA — In this western village in the Republic of Congo, the local health center lacks both material and human resources. As a result, the only male nurse in Doumanga is the one assigned to help women of the village give birth. For Max Banzoulo, it has become a noble mission that he carries out […]
PARIS — Donning a ribbon-trimmed red bowler hat and a white tunic embroidered with black in what turned out to be his last concert, Papa Wemba stayed true to personal code of conduct: Always look sharp. The tenor of Congolese rumba, who collapsed and died on stage while performing at a music festival in Abidjan […]
BRAZZAVILLE — In the area around the Congolese capital of Brazzaville, it’s common practice to burn vegetation in fields before planting crops. But this slash-and-burn approach inflicts severe damage to the forests and the soil, not to mention to the health of women, who are the primary farmers in this area. “The placement of these […]
Making charcoal requires cutting down trees and burning them in the ground, destroying in the process not only trees but also the fertility of the land. Farming output is on the decline, and environmentalists are signaling the need for change.
BRAZZAVILLE — It was only when she realized she’d handed her husband a letter written by his mistress that Alphonsine decided to act. Facing such heartbreak and humiliation, this 54-year-old housewife and mother of seven, decided to join a basic literacy class in the Congolese capital of Brazzaville. Like Alphonsine, many illiterate women have started […]
Representatives and victims in the Congo are pushing back on ancient traditions that render women without rights after the deaths of their husbands, even prohibiting them from eating or drinking when they want.
Nicolas Ngwabije fled his native Congo in 1966, a political refugee. He ended up working for decades at a French migrant center, a reference point for generations of refugees. And they keep coming.
Women farmers in Lower Congo have been the first to notice the effects of desertification, and the first to react.
LIMETE — Three times a week here, in this municipality within the Kinshasa province of Congo, street children gather in the square to practice Brazilian capoeira, a martial art that incorporates dance, music and acrobatics. For the past seven years, these unlikely enthusiasts of the disclipline have occupied a portion of an abandoned basketball court. […]
Street children often abandon their own infants, who are sometimes raised by grandmothers or dropped at convents. But these young parents all wish them a better life than they had.
In the province of the Bas-Congo, southwest of Kinshasa, “prophecies” blame innocents for the misfortune of their loved ones.
Edged out for a time by greasy, imported food, traditional meals are staging a comeback in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
BENI – For many years in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the military was the main seller of liquor imported from Uganda. But now soldiers have changed sides, and are now fighting those who try to import liquor into Congo. In order to reduce the trafficking and consumption of banned liquors […]
Idjwi is a rare example of a preserved ecosystem in the troubled eastern Congolese region. But poverty and crop disease are now putting this tranquil island at risk too.
Underage workers wind up digging for gold, and too often dying in the process. Family traditions are part of why no one is ever held responsible.
Militias in the North Kivu region are facing desertions as the UN armed contingent begins to move into the embattled territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo. But fighting still flares.
How climate change looks — and feels — in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Mai-Mai militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo is known to kill and eat captured tribal leaders, which they think gives special powers to shield them from bullets.
LEMERA – One woman now lives with her daughter in a densely populated neighborhood of the city of Bukavu, in eastern Congo. Six months ago, she had been sentenced to permanent exile from her native village of Lemera, in the South Kivu province, after a tribal court tried and convicted her of using witchcraft to […]
KIWANJA – On a recent weekday morning, time seemed to be standing still in this town in eastern Congo. A strange atmosphere reigns, with most of the shops and stalls closed and the town’s schools empty. “Bullets can start flying at any time, so we let our students out early,” says a teacher in Kiwanja […]
HIV testing has been set up at border-crossings, with particular attention on truck drivers and prostitutes who may be particularly vulnerable.
DISASI – As the little coffin leaves the hospital morgue in this western Congolese town, there is total silence. Yves Ibama was 14 years old when he was taken from his parents suddenly, after a short illness. On Buzala Avenue, in the densely populated town of Disasi where the wake is being held, everyone is […]
BARCELONA – Bas van Abel brought a novel idea to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The 35-year-old Dutch entrepreneur is currently at work, with ten others, on the first “FairTrade” smartphone – a phone that will contain no gold mined in war zones, will not be assembled in a soulless Chinese factory, and will […]
GOMA – Young Muslim men in the Democratic Republic of Congo are less interested in having several wives than their fathers were. Facing rising prices and feuds over inheritance, the new generation doesn’t see how the benefits outweigh the costs of having multiple spouses in the same household. As for the women of the current […]
From Russia to South Korea and Switzerland, thereis a different between kleptocrats and diligent greasers of wheels.
After a nearly 10 percent jump in obesity, the first efforts have been launched at educating Congolese about both diet and exercise. But skinny to many means sick — and poor.
BENI – Gisèle Masika, a young divorced woman from this Congolese city, says she wants nothing of her aunt’s life as a housewife. “My aunt can’t do anything, her husband takes care of everything, and he has no consideration for her,” she says. Like other women in Beni, in northeastern Congo, Masika decided to learn […]
GOMA – While the Congolese government was keeping the public in the dark about the fall of Goma to the M23 rebels in mid-November, here the news had already gone viral on Facebook. Soon after the rest of Congo was checking in on a variety of social networks to follow news updates and the latest […]
MATADI – “I used to be ashamed of my small breasts, but I have finally fulfilled my dream of making them bigger,” says a cheerful woman from Matadi, southwest of Kinshasa, the Congolese capital. In this region, big boobs have become the new standard for feminine beauty. “It is sexy and so feminine. Men love […]
GOMA – Following the withdrawal of the M23 rebel troops that for 12 days occupied the eastern city of Goma, locals remain cautious and fearful, despite reassurances from government authorities. Meanwhile, those who had supported the M23 are keeping a low profile. The M23 rebels took control of Goma, the capital of the North Kivu […]