Meanwhile, in Ubangi Land...

[rain_gryphon]

Looks like Bozize is screwed. Even the French (who helped put him in power) have lost patience with him. He's not someone I can feel particularly sorry for. He doesn't have an army when he needs one because he's spent the last ten years dismantling it so nobody could use it to sieze power the way he did. He's got all these rebels seriously pissed off at him because he promised them back in 2006 that he'd give them all this money and loot if they laid down their arms, then tried to stiff them when his own people objected that they weren't getting anything. I believe he thought that the rebels, once disarmed, would be unable to get replacement weapons to do anything about his double-dealing, which makes him a doofus as well as a cheat, since the Central African Republic borders on the northeastern Congo, Land of Abundant Small Arms (the CAR is the former French Ubangi Land and Chari Land, which are fascinating places in their own right).

My hat's off to the French. There's something to be said for letting the opponents fight it out, and the victor write the rules. Certainly the standard UN approach of trying vainly to stop the fighting without settling the issues has produced nothing but decades of war in the region.

Comments

[arcturax.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see Africa someday. Sadly most of the places there are too dangerous to go to.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

As would I. Central Africa, and the Congo in particular, have fascinated me since I was a child. It's all moving backward into savagery, though. When I was born, the Congo was the most modern and built-up country in Africa. They had riverboat and train service to most of the country, 16000 miles or so of paved roads, hospitals and schools equal (at least in terms of resources) to those in Europe. They had this immense potential, the whole continent, did, and there was this sense in the late 50s and early 60s that they were on the brink of greatness.

It's all wrecked now, though. They have maybe 600 miles of paved road left in the entire county, and that not too good. Only little bits and pieces of the once-vast train network are left, providing local service only.

There's an outstanding book called Blood River (http://www.amazon.com/Blood-River-Tim-Butcher/dp/0701179813) about a fellow who travelled the length of the Congo river in 2005, and what he saw on the way. Nobody thought he'd survive, but he was obsessed. A recurring theme of his book is the wreckage of the past that he encounters everywhere. Half-collapsed government buildings, and roads and railways rotting in the jungle are constant sights. The older people recall when you could live in peace and safety, when there were cars and electricity and doctors and teachers, and the young can't even imagine what these would be like. If you have Kindle, I'll loan you my copy. It's rivetting.

[arcturax.livejournal.com]

Wow didn't really know the history of the region. I just assumed it had always been a hell hole. Its sad really, I wonder if part of its plight was the US and the Soviets playing chess with nations in these regions, sending arms to whatever group they thought would win them control of the support and resources of the continent.