Tim Butcher Interview

Tim Butcher’s book, ‘Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart’, part-travelogue, part-history of the Congo, topped bestseller lists early this year. The premise of the book was that Butcher would follow in the footsteps of Stanley, the first man to map the length of the Congo River, and in doing so tell the story of the country. We had the chance to speak to Butcher recently about his experiences.

You seem to spend every moment of the book in fear for your life, did you actually enjoy the experience?

“I think enjoy would be the wrong word. It was an ordeal, and it was challenging and rewarding, but I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it. I’ve been told that there aren’t many laughs in the book, and I’m afraid that that’s because you can’t really make light of the situation. Of course I enjoyed meeting the fantastic people who helped me, but that enjoyment was tempered by the fact that I had to leave them there. I’m still in contact with Benoit, who was one of the motorbike drivers who took me on a large part of the journey, and since the book he has lost his job with Care International simply because they were downsizing their operation. He is now forced to eke out a shitty, miserable living, while in a stable country he’d have a great job, maybe the head teacher of a school. Benoit is one of the most incredible men I’ve ever met, and I would trust him with my life – well, I did trust him with my life. Some people accused me of being too negative in the book, but I reject that claim. I think I wrote about the way that the human spirit had survived, but it’s not a situation to be made light of. I think I was realistic in the book.”

Why were the local Congolese people happy to go so far out of their way to help you on your journey?

“The milk of human kindness runs very deep there. People like Benoit and Georges Mbuyu, the pygmy leader, didn’t even ask for money. They really wanted to help me. The people of the Congo are incredibly generous. It’s one of those classic cases of a tiny fringe of radicals colouring the perception of an entire group of people.”

Your journey wasn’t just unusual in that it was done by a non-Congolese person, even the locals rarely travel through the dangerous eastern provinces. How unified can the country be if communities are so isolated?

“That’s a very good question, because why would the country be unified along such arbitrary geographic lines? – lines drawn up by the very worst kind of colonialism. Amazingly there is a national identity, though, because the country passes the football test. Everybody cheers for the Simba. It’s astonishing, but even in areas of the country where it’s impossible to get television coverage of the games, everybody knows that there’s a game on and are behind the team. Since the 60s with Katanga, none of the regions have really talked of secession. I mean, some rebels have talked about making various provinces independent, but it’s just pie in the sky. Considering that it’s basically a failed state there is a remarkable amount of national unity.”

‘Blood River’ mentions the lack of institutional memory, the fact that the reasons for fighting wars can quickly be forgotten. Is Patrice Lumumba remembered as a hero of independence?

"It’s difficult to have that memory because it’s a country of young people. Lumumba doesn’t really have a Mandela-like following. He was a man of his time, and his murder was shrouded in so much mystery. It's only relatively recently that the truth has come out. The violence is so complicated and multi-layered that it is difficult for anyone to keep track of it and remember it.”

The book is full of examples of decaying infrastructure, as the jungle reclaims roads and train-tracks. Is there a part of you that enjoys the unspoilt nature of the rainforest?

"If I could guarantee that my children would be safe and that my wife wouldn’t be raped, then the Congo would be a beautiful place to visit. It’s an incredible environmental paradise.”

“There are strange benefits. It is an African irony that HIV started in the Congo, the first samples are from Leopoldville, and there’s evidence from the 30s, 40s and 50s. But the country hasn’t been that badly affected by HIV. There is HIV there, certainly, but it hasn’t spread as rapidly as it could have done, simply because the transport infrastructure isn’t there. HIV needs two things to spread quickly: poverty and good transport, and that’s why countries like Botswana and South Africa have been so badly affected.”

“So there is a positive side to the unspoilt nature. The oxygen we breath comes from the Congo rainforest, it’s one of the lungs of the world. And the unfortunate fact is that I can guarantee that the first roads that go into those areas will be logging roads.”

“Some of the remoter regions support fantastic ecosystems. An expedition recently found something like nine new species of mammal. So there is a pure, exciting, Garden of Eden, element to the country, but at the moment it’s not safe for the people.”

What does the Congo need, above all else?

“The rule of law, and transparency. People have to know that if someone takes something that belongs to them, they can do something other than take a gun and shoot them. There is money in the country. The cobalt mines are generating fantastic amounts of money, but where is it going? Into Swiss bank accounts. Of course it’s easy for me to say what the Congo needs. The million dollar question, the million dollar developmental question, is how you implement the rule of law and transparency.”

DR Congo Conference in Sussex

On the 11th November, a conference entitled "The Occupation in DR Congo: The new scramble for Africa" will be held in Mandela Hall, Falmer House at the University of Sussex.

The event is organised by the Hear Afrika and Suubira Uganda societies from the University of Sussex Students' Union, with the support of the International Relations and Anthropology departments.

The impressive list of confirmed speakers include:

• Hon.Tshela Compton, the DRC's ambassador to the UK

• Aldridge Harry, representing Nigel Farage MEP

• Stephen Carter, coordinator of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region of Africa

• Kofi Mawuli Klu, from the Afrika Soree-Ubuntu Democracy In Action Network

• Prof James Fairhead, of the University of Sussex's Anthropology Dept.

• Dr. Denis Tull, from Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP),German Institute for International and Security Affairs

• Bob Labi, The Committee for a Workers' International

The event starts from 1pm, and we'll be in attendance running a stall, so come along and say Hi!

Crisis? What Crisis?

A survey published today by the British Red Cross showed that most British people are "unaware of African conflicts".

99% of respondents to the survey did not know that the Democratic Republic of Congo has suffered the highest civilian death toll of any country in conflict in the last ten years. 47% of people guessed that the country in question would be Iraq, while 14% went for Afghanistan.

People were also asked to name countries currently experiencing conflict. 69% of respondents identified Iraq and 65% Afghanistan, which could be expected given the British military's involvement, although the figures still seem relatively low given the media coverage of both conflicts.

12% identified Russia and 10% identified Zimbabwe but less than one percent of people interviewed identified areas such as Sudan or Somalia.

The results of the survey come just a day after the Red Cross appealed for access to victims of the fighting in North and South Kivu, in the eastern DRC.

Support Computer Training in DRC

By the very fact that you are reading this blog, I can safely say that using a computer is a part of your life. For most of you, I'd go so far as predicting that a good proportion of your life is spent at a computer, whether at work or at home.

As is the case everywhere else in the world, computer skills are becoming an increasingly important part of working life in the DRC, and some basic training can mean the difference between employment and unemployment. AMO-Congo is an organisation that was set up to help children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS to learn computer skills.

You can support the work they do by purchasing computer training as a gift here at Present Aid

Optimum Primus

Throughout the Congo's troubled history, there has been at least one industry whose continued productivity has been enjoyed by the locals, and that's the Bramlima Brewery, and it's flagship beer Primus.

As their TV advert shows, they've been an ever present fixture since they were founded in 1923, when the country was still a Belgian territory.

They then jump to 1960, where independence appears to have been marked by some relatively restrained dancing.

Next up is the 1974 football celebrations which mark the Congo's first qualification for the World Cup, as Zaire. In truth, however, they found the going tough in West Germany, losing 2-0 to Scotland, whose side included Kenny Dalglish, and 3-0 to Brazil. Their nadir however was in their second game, as they were beaten 9-0 by a rampant Yugoslavia. Enough to make you reach for a bottle of Primus...

Later in the same year, we see people chanting 'Ali' as they watch the 'Rumble in the Jungle' beamed around the country from the Mai 20 Stadium in Kinshasa.

The party continues in 1987 and today, but perhaps the less said about the somewhat sinister vision of 2050 the better...

Under African Skies

The tragic news of yesterday’s plane crash between Kisangani to Bukavu that killed 15 UN and NGO workers and 2 crew emphasises once again the dangers and difficulties of providing aid to the remotest regions of the Congo.

In a country so densely forested that earlier this year the BBC reported that villages are still being added to the maps, this means that aid workers must take incredible risks to transport supplies.

Once, Twice, Three times... Ilunga

Congolese international Hérita Ilunga (left) today completed a loan transfer to West Ham.

Ilunga's surname, a common name in the DRC, was identifed in 2004 as the 'most untranslatable' word in the world. The word is said to roughly indicate "a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time", although the true meaning, and it's cultural connotations, are apparently lost in translation.