Africa – is Bad News a Media Obsession?

It is said that Africa and African countries tend to be reported in the mass media as only an item(s) of bad news!  We need to think about this because looking at several national UK newspapers this morning Africa doesn’t have the monopoly for bad news: Mumbai; Burma, Thailand, Laos, China, UK in fact there is bad news from almost everywhere on this planet from many countries.

In Africa we know the bad news: Mugabe’s dictatorship of Zimbabwe and the struggle of the masses for freedom;  the Congo region and the constant wars; Darfur – again in constant war: famine becomes an issue from time to time – mass starvation!  Violence in Nigeria as Christians and muslims battle it out; ungovernable Somalia and pirates.

We are sure there is good news but if those who are concerned about why the media reports bad news from Africa – we have to say look again as the media focusses on bad news from everywhere: including the USA, the UK- anywhere you look – The fact is bad news sells newspapers and it is good for TV advertising revenue in between TV news bulletins. So the answer is that the mass media is in business because bad news sells! So it’s not just Africa it’s everywhere you look. But this is part of the service that a free press provides. Freedom of the press is an essential in free and democratic societies.

But if people are suffering isn’t better we know; isn’t better for them so that people elsewhere can help and provide aid; if only “good news” is published it would create a false impression it would please many of Africa’s gangster presidents. Any media publishing only “good news” would virtually be a state run agency an Orwellian media. We cannot close our eyes to repression in Africa.

There are dictators in Africa who would welcome hiding the suffering of their people in supposed “good news” – Mugabe’s done this for years; we cannot allow that to happen the world needs to know in regard to Africa and elsewhere about human rights abuses; disease, starvation, human suffering and war. Freedom of the press is an essential in a free and democratic society.

CONGO BLOODSHED CONTINUES!

Not long ago TV screens showed images of the conflict in the so called “Democratic Republic of the Congo” (DRC); since then our main concerns in the UK have vacillated between the international banking crisis and locally the high drama concerning parliament and government and the tragedy of “Baby P”.  Rest assured the conflict continues with Laurent Nkunda (CNDP) threatening war, even though in reality peace is still evading the “DRC”.  Both the former Nigerian president Obasanjo and Tanzanian President Mkapa have been intervening to build a peaceful solution.  A ceasefire was negotiated but violence has continued between the CNDP and other rebel groups and government forces.  In fact the situation has got far worse with both Angolan and Zimbabwean troops joining in the fighting.   

The only way forward is total disarmament the withdrawl of all foreign troops and the disbandment of the “DRC Army”  The UN force MONUC should be strengthened and allowed to revise its terms of engagement.  Above all it is time that revision of the “DRCs” frontier be considered, the “DRC” is far too large a state and needs to be broken up into new manageable states; the frontiers of the “DRC” are still those agreed at the 1884/5 Berlin West Africa Conference and what might have suited colonial authorities is not suitable for modern Africa.

Mugabe’s Cholera Epidemic…

We are saddened that Zimbabwe has been hit be a cholera epidemic which the Mugabe regime in a disgusting true Stalinist mode has tried hard to hide. Harare, Chitungwiza and other cities have been visited by cholera; not surprisingly has been enabled by a neglect in fresh water and sewerage disposal systems in the suburbs; corrupt Zanu PF officials; lack of funds have led to disaster and now the long suffering Zimbabwean people are exposed to  a deadly disease. Hospitals are starved of funds, as Mugabe secretly dispatches troops to war torn Congo; there is little funding for hospitals; medicines are in short supply as are doctors and nurses. Doctors and nurses in Harare were recently the victims of police brutality.

We are faced with meltdown in what was once a prosperous African country. Mugabe thinks he owns the country and does what he likes; he is an embarrassment to Africa; he and his Zanu PF fellow gangsters have ruined the county with their thievery and corruption.  Zimbabwe is now one of the planet’s biggest disaster zones.

DEC Appeal – Congo

We applaud the Disasters Emergency Committee launching an appeal for funds and aid  to go to the long suffering people of the “Democratic Republic of Congo” but we fear constant war and instability will go on and on as elsewhere in Africa.  This means our TV screens will continue to show images of suffering for some time to come. New ways of dealing with these crises need to be found;  we need to punish the companies involved in extracting minerals from the Congo for it is they who are a root cause of political instability.  We need to know what exactly is the “Democratic Republic of Congo” what is the nature of its government; some ministers no doubt live in luxury and its soldiers are terrorizing citizens. The “DRC” is too large it needs breaking up; some territory could be ceeded to Rwanda and Uganda and several smaller states could be created. 

We would suggest that the National Lottery set up a game that could help to raise cash for the DEC’s campaigns and perhaps a proportion of prize money could be added to donations.

Blood in the Congo.

As the African Union and Southern African Development Community bosses talk, wine and dine far away from the so called monstrous state of the “Democratic Republic of the Congo” so the killing of innocents goes on and if the events in Darfur are anything to go by then there is little real hope for the long suffering peoples of eastern Congo.  The rewards for the killers be they between the rebel group Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP), led by Laurent Nkunda, and the national Congolese army, the Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo (FARDC)  and other various rebel factions include: colton, cassiterite, gold continues to yield blood money for profiteers.  For those that wish to learn more then visit the links on this page for: Global Witness and the International Crisis Group.  

Darfur has been drowning in blood since at least 2003 so not much hope for the Congolese people. Even in Zimbabwe the bosses of Africa failed to bring Mugabe to account there really needs to be action to impress upon these people to be more active in sorting out urgently problems relating to the continent.

African Union – Totally Useless!

There is surely some significance in the fact that the last few days have seen European Union (EU) leaders dashing to the Democratic Republic of Congo to seek a peaceful settlement whilst there remains a complete absence of concern from the African Union (AU) which has become the African presidents wining and dining club just like the old OAU.  The AU had to be kicked to get involved in resolving the Zimbabwe crisis which it failed to do and now its officials and leaders simply watch as innocent African peasants once again get pushed around by armies, bandits and militias.

WAR AS USUAL IN THE CONGO REGION.

The fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo never seems to end. Whilst it may well be true that the fighting between rebels of one description or another and government and hapless UN forces is rooted in economic resources. It is a vast country and there lies an impossibility: a UN force of 17,000 cannot hope to contain the violence even a force of a million UN troops couldn’t hope to maintain the peace.

It is also true that in reality conflict in the Congo region has been perpetual even going as far back as Arab slave traders in the 18th century ( even before this date) and before the Belgians arrived in the late 19th century and more recently the looting was led by brother African states including Zimbabwe; the region has been the subject of economic exploitation. The Congo region has vast mineral resources and greedy eyes and hands of all sorts can’t wait to get a share of that wealth and keep it. 

What is really needed is a total arms embargo on all states in the region.  There also has to be a new embracing internal settlement which must include the poor, the long suffering poor of the Congo region. Maybe the time has come to scrap this enormous state and split it into more manageable smaller states.