Not surprising that the exchange schemes work better than the UN’s forcible disarmament!
Keep your eyes open for reports on the July 30 election. The DRC is yet another wartorn African country that just might have a slim chance at stability. (Which would be good news for the bonobos.)
A scheme under which gunmen in the Democratic Republic of Congo are given bicycles in exchange for their weapons is being extended due to its success.
Ngoy Mulunda, a pastor in the south-eastern Katanga region, says he has been given some 6,500 weapons in the past year, which he has destroyed.
The programme is now being extended to the neighbouring South Kivu province.
A BBC correspondent says it has proved more successful than the UN disarmament exercise, following a five-year war.
The BBC’s Jonathan Kacelewa in Bukavu says a bicycle, worth about $50, makes a big difference to the lives of local people.
In South Kivu, however, zinc roofing sheets are being given out instead of bicycles.
The scheme, run through Pastor Mulunda’s NGO Parec, is now being backed by President Joseph Kabila.
Congolese troops, backed by United Nations peacekeepers, have been forcibly disarming militias in eastern DR Congo ahead of landmark elections due to take place on 30 July.
BBC NEWS | Africa | DR Congo backs ‘guns for bikes’
I called most of this chaos years ago. America is still unraveling — and the next chapters are already written.
If you want to understand what’s really coming (and why), read Not My America: A Stranger in a Strange Land. Available on Amazon.
CD Damitio writes at indignified.substack.com — essays on utopias, dystopias, and the spaces between. Free to read. No algorithm, no sponsored content. His books can be found on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/stores/CD-Damitio/author/B001JP7NWA
CD Damitio writes INDIGNIFIED — utopias and dystopias explored. Free to read.
