The Congo elections which were to have taken place in June will now start in July and not end until next January.

This means the possibility of hunting the Congo has been delayed for at least a year.

In addition, there has been a huge influx of cattle into block 7 on the Sudan border to as far south as the north bank of the Uele River.

These cattle come all the way from Chad and are only there because General Bemba allows them to be there.

The implication is that part of the Congo, which was once 7 good hunting blocks is now being favoured for cattle rearing. The implications are not good for hunting.

A recent game survey of the Epi area, just south of the Uele River, which was full of game even 10 years ago found very few animals. Poaching seems to be taking over.

There are three hunting blocks around Garamba National Park and quite a bit of game. These blocks have already been allocated to safari companies by the ICCN, the Congo nature conservation organization, but the ICCN is unlikely to exist after the election, so what it means is that in the DRC the possibility of hunting is once again up in the air.

Ted,

A friend who is an ex-patriot of Congo and has family there tells me the situation is rapidly worsening. Apparently tensions are running high because of the election and people are in fear of another civil war breaking out. According to him the perception is that the current government was “installed†by the American CIA.

I certainly hope things can be resolved without another war…

Best regards;
Brett

Dear Brett,

I certainly hope there is no civil war. Those people have really been through the mill for a long time. I was suprised how decent most people there are given how poor they are and all the crap that has happened to them for the last 40 years.

I don't get the feeling that the CIA is involved although that may be the common perception. They were definitely involved in getting rid of the Simbas in the sixties. The Simbas around Isiro were North Korean trained and for a short time Che gueverra showed up further south near Lake Kivu and was very quickly routed by Mad Mike Hoare.

But somebody is definitely pulling the strings there. Without being able to prove it I think its drug and diamond money from organized crime.

Addenda,

Joseph Kabila is the president. He is sitting in Kinshasha surrounded by 8,000 Swahili speaking Tanzania soldiers. Whoever pays for them is pulling the strings.

If there is an election he will likely lose power because he is not Congolese. He has no tribal base in the Congo. I don't really know who is aligned with him and against him.

The army is organized along communist lines. Kabila's father was a Marxist. You may have a major in charge of a base but I noticed that there is always a political commisar in the ranks as a spy who actually has more power than the commanding officer. I had one bugging me. Very irritating.

There actually seem to be some pretty good French trained officers in upper ranks of the Congolese army. The rapes and so on seem to come from the poorly trained lower ranks.

But everybody is in on the act now. The UN has 16,000 soldiers there, the Germans have 1,500 paratroopers in Kinshasha, The US State department has announced it wants Congo's minerals and its very unusual for them to say something like that. The Chinese are building a road from Mombassa to Kivu province where most of the minerals are and they have thousands of soldiers in the Sudan. I am told the Americans were working day and night building a 2 km fence around their embassy in nearby Kampala. That's a mighty big perimitter fence for an embassy. The diamond business is currently controlled by Jewish interests from Belgium whom a Congolese major told me are "very tough" people.

I do think from talking to many Congolese that if the election they are hoping for is somehow subverted that the shit will really hit the fan. The little guy there really wants to see an election.

Ted- So you see US involvment as a roadblock to the Chinese? That seems strange to me, given that the US has had a hands off policy in so much of Africa, even when the potential for minerals and oil has been there. Interesting stuff!

Dear crane,

I don't see US involvement as a road block to the Chinese. There are so many players in the Congo that I have not the slightest idea what is going on or who the players are.

You have a central government in Kinshasha, four war lords in outlying areas and six revolutionary groups. That's the domestic politics.

Then you have outside interests. You have a number of surrounding countries supporting one rebel group or another. You have alot of mining companies in the background. You have national governments like the USA and China looking at the minerals. the world bank has rebuolt the railway from capetown to a point about 100 km south of Kisangagni.

I just report what my Congo contacts tell me. Draw your own conclusions. My interest in the place is the hunting and once again it seems prospects there are gloomy.

I thought Sauro Albertini's Epi area might work because Sauro has maintained an office in Kinshasha and a camp in Epi for 20 years. He has had great continuity which is rare for a Congo Safari company. Ten years Epi was still good.

About 1.5 years ago John Valk, his camp manger went up to look at the Epi area and was jailed by the army for two weeks. He didn't enjoy the experience.

A year ago John, Gotz von Wild and I tried to go there but were told to stay out. A month ago John Valk got permission to go there and rebuild the camp and did go up but reported alot of cattle had moved into the area and said there was not much game.

So two months ago I was hopeful about the Epi area but now, with John Valk's latest information, I am not.