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Congo-Brazzaville: How Long for Sassou Nguesso?

Alice Backer · 23:56

Hot afternoon in Pointe-Noire, Congo. Photo by Kaysha.

As Guinea has started a process that may lead to the dismantling of its 50-year dictatorship, bloggers from the Republic of Congo (not to be confused with the Democratic Republic of Congo), a country with its own dinosaur dictator Denis Sassou Nguesso are daring to dream of ways in which he might be brought down. That being said, they are definitely at a much earlier phase in the process and are mainly discussing how the opposition might get its act together and unify against him.

Sassou Nguesso Under Pressure via… Flickr

According to Vous Reprendrez Bien Un Peu D'Humanisme, Sassou Nguesso has started an anti-corruption campaign, implicating several of his close relatives and allies one of which has just “repented”. But the blogger is skeptical:

Le Président veut faire croire qu'il s'attaque à la corruption. C'est dans le but de faire plaisir à la société civile qui commence à ne plus supporter les débordements et les exactions du clan. Mais pour être crédible, il faut jeter des gens en pâtures.

The President would have us believe that he is attacking corruption. That's in order to please civil society which is starting to be fed up with the clan's excesses. But in order for the effort to be credible, some heads have to roll.

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China: The west is red

John Kennedy · 16:29

If you're still up in the air over what to do over the Chinese New Year holiday, or if you just happen to have a couple weeks off, you could always go to China's impoverished inland region and participate in the construction of the new socialist countryside.

Southern Rural News editor Tan Yifei's got a plan [zh], Regarding the initiative to go to rural experimental zones for the Spring Festival, posted to his Sina.com blog late last month:
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Iraq: What is going on?

Salam Adil · 07:54

lingua → zhs

Its been a while since my last post and I have had time to rest, take stock and come to some picture of what is happening. And what is happening? is the question on everybody's mind. The problem with blogs, like most of the news media, is that they all present small strips of information but without the thread linking them together. This is why blog aggregators provide such a vital function. We pull strings across diverse opinions. So this post is about what is going on. But it's not all heavy politics - if you read to the end find out what Iraqis who know really think of India.

If you read no other blog post this week read this.

My heartfelt condolences go out to Sunshine and her family who lost two relatives to violence in Iraq this week. The first was 25-year-old, who was murdered while driving his car. The other, a 13-year-old girl, died when a lorry exploded in front of her house, leaving her parents in a critical condition.

With all the news of killing and violence in Iraq, Sunshine responds against the view that Iraqis are killing each other. (more…)

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Guinea-Conakry: The End of a Dictatorship?

Jennifer Brea · 04:38

Conakry, capital of the francophone West African country of Guinea, is bracing for a new round of violence following last month's general strike which left at least 59 dead and 1400 injured. The strikes were organized by Guinea's powerful labor unions to pressure President Lansana Conte, an aging dictator, to appoint a prime minister without ties to the current regime and devolve some of his considerable powers. On January 28, after an 18-day standstill, Conte and the unions reached a deal.

However, union leaders are unhappy with President Lansana Conte's choice of prime minister, and are planning to go ahead with a second round of strikes, due to start tomorrow. In the last few days, 8 civilians have already been killed, including two in an incident were presidential security forces opened fire on youths throwing stones (Fr) at the president's motorcade.

By all accounts, the unions have considerable support among the Guinean people, who also want Conte to share power or step down.

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