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Asimba Bathy from the Democratic Republic of Congo
For the war torn region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, I have chosen Asimba Bathy to represent this country in my 55 African Countries project. I could not find much online but from the image above it isn't difficult to see how good Asimba is. A message from the author:
Asimba Bathy
Mbote na bino! (Salut!)
Je m'appelle ASIMBA BATHY, je suis Congolais de la République Démocratique du Congo et j'habite Kinshasa. Président de l'OAR (Organisation des Artistes Réunis pour la promotion et la défense de la Bande dessinée), je suis artiste autodidacte et aussi auteur d'un certain nombre d'articles sur la BD congolaise. Par moment, j'ai créé des magazines qui m'ont permis de publier mes dessins et aussi ceux d'autres dessinateurs dont les membres de notre groupe. Pour ce qui est de la promotion de la BD au Congo, le moins que je puisse dire est que je suis à la base directe ou indirecte d'au moins 90% de publications bédesques en RDC. Souvent conseiller technique, si pas directeur de la publication, etc. Marié et pére de cinq enfant, je cherche un éditeur pour publier
mes BD et, le cas échéant, un scénariste avec lequel faire une équipe solide.
Contact: asimbabathy@netcourrier.com
My translation here:
Asimba Bathy
Mbote na bino! (Salut!)
My name is ASIMBA BATHY, I am a Congolose from the Democratic Republic of Congo and I live in Kinshasa. President of the OAR (Organization of United Artists for the promotion of Comics), I am a self taught artist and also the author of several articles about Congolese comic books. At the moment, I have founded magazines that allow me to publish
my drawings and also those of other artists members of our group. For those involved with the promotion of comic books in Congo, I can say I am involved directly or indirectly with 90% of comic publications in Congo. Many times technical adviser, director of the publication, etc.
Married and the father of five children, I am looking for an editor to publish my works and a "scénariste"/writer with whom to form a solid team.
Contact: asimbabathy@netcourrier.com
The map below is from google maps,I wanted the satellite image but unfortunately the message "we're sorry but we don't have imageryat this zoom level for this region. Try zooming out for a broader look" is what I got when I tried toget closer. The usual CIA info on the country is here.
Below some interesting photos of the city of Bukavu, where a most horrifying incident happened recently (see below): the Avenue Royale during and after (1995) colonialism.
Photos taken from http://www.stiopka.com/index.html
A tourist intended message about Bukavu at http://www.world66.com/africa/congokinshasa/bukavu:
"Bukavu is a very calm place where people visit for many occasions. There you can find hotels, restaurants, bars, night clubs and many more. There are 40 indigenous lanhuages and 4 lingua francas which are spoken in Bukavu."
And the not so touristy piece of news:
Rwandan rebels burn 39 villagers alive in Congo -UN
11.07.2005 - 19:19
By David Lewis
KINSHASA (Reuters) - Rwandan rebels burned 39 people alive when they torched a village in eastern Congo in what some locals said was punishment for supporting United Nations peacekeepers, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Monday.
U.N. forces have stepped up activity in the South Kivu province in the past week to try to improve security following a spate of attacks blamed on Rwandan rebels based in the lawless regions on Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern border.
"Thirty-nine civilians were burned alive after being locked in their huts, another seven are injured," said Sylvie van den Wildenberg, a spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Congo, referring to the attack that happened late on Saturday.
"The vast majority were women and children," she said by telephone from the eastern town of Bukavu.
"Some people said it was in retaliation for a recent Congolese army attack on the rebels. Others said it was to discourage people from supporting an increasingly present U.N. mission," she said.
Members of the U.N. force that used helicopters to visit the village of Mtulumamba, some 40 km (25 miles) west of Bukavu, said huts had been reduced to cinders.
"Ashes remained where the 10 huts had stood, there were a couple of mass graves, where they had been buried," said a member of the team. "We were told the attackers locked the women and children in their huts while the men ran away."
TAUNTS
A Congolese government official in Bukavu quoted survivors as saying the rebels taunted their victims for supporting U.N. peacekeepers, who have been cheered in parts of South Kivu during operations in the past week.
"During the attack, the bandits told them to call on their U.N. saviours," the government official told Reuters.
He had earlier quoted rebel sources as saying that 76 people had been killed, before the U.N. forces made their report.
U.N. peacekeepers, long accused of doing too little to fulfil their mandate to protect civilians in eastern Congo, have stepped up operations this year, particularly after nine Bangladeshi soldiers were killed in February.
The U.N. mission, known as MONUC, has mounted several operations to reinforce its presence in South Kivu in the past week, following a series of massacres blamed on Rwandan Hutu FDLR and Rasta rebels partly based in the province.
"It wouldn't surprise me if this was the FDLR. They have threatened to retaliate against civilians," a U.N. officer said.
Rwandan Hutu militias, many of whom fled after conducting the 1994 genocide in their homeland, have been active in eastern Congo for some time, prompting Rwanda to invade its huge neighbor twice to try to neutralize them.
The FDLR, the main group of Rwandan rebels in Congo, denied responsibility for the attack, blaming it on the more recently formed faction of Rwandan rebels known as the Rastas, although many observers say the two groups maintain close links.
"I spoke to my men on the ground and they confirmed that this attack was carried out by the Rastas," said Edmund Ngarambe, an FDLR spokesman in Bukavu.
Earlier this year, the FDLR vowed to lay down its weapons and return to Rwanda. But none of the fighters have left and the group has been accused of collaborating with Congolese gunmen in kidnapping and extortion rackets in South Kivu.
More info at:
www.swisspolitics.org
http://www.congopost.com/ - Kinshasa Daily
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=24899