NGO cocktail party

After work today, I attended a cocktail party of some NGO that is affiliated with the ICC. I went with three people from work: a Uzbeki guy, a Georgian girl, and an Azerbaijani girl. I enjoyed watching the lingua franca(s) of this trio from the former Soviet republics, which was a bit of Russian mixed into their mostly French conversations.

Upon arrival, I fell into a group of Africans representing various NGOs at a conference that is apparently being held this week at the ICC. Mudather, from Khartoum, Sudan, does work for women in Darfur. Roger, from South Kiva province, Congo (DRC), is doing human rights law there. And there was a guy from Rwanda and another from the Central African Republic. Naturally, we were all scavenging for free drinks and appetizers.

Luckily last night I had read up on the fighting in North Kiva province, so Roger and I had a good discussion. Roger and I also spoke about President Kabila; Roger told me that the east of the DRC supported Kabila during the elections -- he said that his (Roger's) province tallied 98% of their vote for Kabila. The west does not support him, which makes it hard for him to govern in Kinshasa. He said that although Kinshasa, as the capital, attracts people from all over the country, even people from the east who live there do not support Kabila. He said that Kabila's support is waning, which Roger believes is the reason that Kabila has been actively courting Chinese "investment."

Roger also said that he had worked as a lawyer in the case of the murder of the former president, Kabila's father. He didn't say, or wouldn't say, exactly his involvement in the case, but he did seem to believe that Kabila had killed his father in order to assume the presidency.

As a novice anthropologist or geographtician or something, I also asked Roger about comparing Brazzaville to Kinshasa. Roger said that Brazzaville is much more relaxed than Kinshasa and more like the east of the DRC, where he is from, than Kinshasa, which he finds to be stressful and crowded. He said that you cross the river by boat; there is no bridge; and there are lots of complications and bribes to pay in order to cross.