Monthly Archives: April 2009

There is nothing quite as awesome (read: politically correct) as Congolese paraplegics who ride motorized tricycle wheelchairs and play guitars in a zoo. Which is why writing articles about Kinshasa rumba band Staff Benda Bilili is both fun and awkward. … Continue reading →

Dear Friend, I am Christian Lowell III, son of Christian Lowell II. I write you in urgent need of assistance. I am living with my brother in a rent-controlled two-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side. Needless to say, the … Continue reading →

Jean Hatzfeld understands the Rwandan genocide.  He has spent the past ten years unpacking the violence, sitting with both killers and victims day after day, primus after primus. Hatzfeld’s recently translated third book, “The Antelope’s Strategy; Living in Rwanda after … Continue reading →

Breaking news from the Onion on a celebrity attempt to be really, really kind to poor people: ROME—More than 40 artists, including U2, Death Cab for Cutie, Rihanna, and Rage Against the Machine, performed at six simultaneous concerts across the … Continue reading →

Remember those other rebel groups  operating in the Eastern DRC who aren’t the FDLR? Apparently, they no longer exist. According to IRIN, 18 rebel groups signed an agreement declaring their simultaneous dissolution. Mai Mai spokesman Didier Bitaki is optimistic about … Continue reading →

Rokia Traoré does something on her latest album Tchamantché that West African artists don’t do:  she grabs a Gretsch guitar to meet Malian beats with lush blues riffs. And its amazing. Rokia Traoré is to the West African musical patriarchs … Continue reading →

The prize goes to Afrique en Ligne’s thoughtfully entitled article: 2009 Goldman Environment Prize goes to Gabonese Cripple

Just a few hours after the first edition of Where Are Those Rebel Leaders Now featuring Laurent Nkunda came out this afternoon, Rwanda announced the Nkunda isn’t going anywhere: A Rwandan court has rejected a suit seeking the release of … Continue reading →

In a bizarre legal development, Laurent Nkunda has decided to sue the Government of Rwanda. Nkunda’s official complaint: Rwanda ‘wrongfully arrested’ him in January because the war crimes he committed were obviously in a different country and you can’t just … Continue reading →

Over at To Africa, from New York, Jina Moore gets it right: Burundi ain’t Rwanda. Jina notes how the assanitation of Burundais anti-corruption activist Ernest Manirumva wouldn’t  happen in Rwanda today.  She is spot on. Something that happened in Burundi … Continue reading →