Spot the difference

It’s D-day minus 10, and as the campaign rises up a notch, the streets of Kinshasa find themselves more adorned than an American suburb at Christmas. Supporters and opportunists alike will be able to eat, drink, sing, party, clothe themselves and bathe in perfume for the next couple of weeks free of charge.

Meanwhile, 19 presidential candidates (out of a total of 33) have asked for the elections to be postponed, supposedly because the Independent Electoral Commission is not ready, and there are too many irregularities. Some say the truth lies closer to home: the unfortunate candidates just don’t have enough cash to campaign.

Of course, some appear to have rather more funding than others…

On a gloomier note, a Congolese journalist was killed at home on Friday night. This incident is all the more worrying as it follows the recent expulsion from DRC of the French journalist Ghislaine Dupont.

On a lighter note, the DRC now has its own brand new, shiny, glossy, alluring tourist guidebook. The 300 pages, complete with colour photographs of friendly villagers flashing broad, unlikely smiles and mouth-watering descriptions of national parks replete with exceptional vegetation and rare, precious animals, include only two paragraphs on security which glean over the issue with careless understatements such as: « Il n’est pas conseillé de voyager seul en République Démocratique du Congo. »

Too bad Mme Dupont hadn’t read this particular piece of priceless advice.

Of the police and the army, generally acknowledged as trouble by the local population and expatriates alike, and in some regions widely feared for their dire reputation as armed thieves and/or rapists, the guidebook observes : « Mieux vaut s’adresser à un compatriote en cas de réel problème. La police ou l’armée est particulièrement zelée le long des routes. (…) Il est évidemment inutile de s’alarmer. »

Perhaps the authors were wearing rose-tinted glasses throughout their visit. Perhaps they aimed for the guidebook to be accurate a few years from now. But to say of Ituri that it is a beautifully intact forest with unique fauna and flora, and a few pygmies to boot, without once mentioning that it is currently the scene of a rather vicious and ongoing war, is quite negligent methinks. I can’t help but wonder who financed the publication of this particular guide. Unless le Petit Futé was not so “futé” after all and had the wool pulled over its eyes by some clever investors and shady officials.

Still, I wouldn’t want to put anyone off visiting us (well, after the elections please), so if you’re mad enough to even consider it (Paul), here it is (not yet online):