Saturday, 5 June

Another day confined to my hotel. It seems that I will stay here until the situation becomes clearer. I have been here a week now and not done much work - my job is going to be in a field office. Here in Kinshasa there is no work for me to do - even if I can go to my office at headquarters, I will just have some administrative work to catch up on. It seems that my deployment to the field could be delayed for some time. Today there have been rumours that we may be evacuated (they call it "relocated") as here in Kinshasa we are considered non-essential staff. The most likely place to go is Brazzaville, just across the Congo river. However, it does not seem very likely that this will happen as things are much quieter than on Thursday. Life on the streets seems to be returning to normal - cars are out on the roads and the traders have returned to the street. Today I moved in to another room with a UN colleague - the room is nicer and $10 cheaper than my old room. Still not cheap, but better than before. In the evening we crossed the road to go to a Greek bar where for $10 a game we could play pool! At the moment it seems that anything could happen. The only reliable source of information is my manager who does not seem to know much either. I guess it is a case of wait and see...