Thursday, 10 June

Another day another dollar - today was pay day which was exciting. Not the usual direct bank transfer that I am used to. I had to cash my cheque in the Banque Commercial du Congo in downtown Kinshasa. This is no ordinary experience - today was also payday for most of Congo by the looks of things. Calm queues of people waiting to see the cashier are not a local phenomena - thing heaving crowds and people pushing in front of you whil you are trying to collect your money! Fortunately I went there with a Ghanaian UN soldier, safety in numbers and all that... Leaving the bank was interesting - passing through the crowd of hawkers and street traders lingering at the entrance who know that you have a wallet full of cash.
Meanwhile, I am still waiting for my posting to go through...no definite news yet. A demain!

Wednesday, 9 June

I have had quite a productive day today - no protests and lots of things got done! I took (and passed) my UN driving test, registered at the British embassy, got given a radio (now I only need to be issued a computer and a posting before I can commence work), had an eye exam by a Serbian doctor which consisted of asking me whether I could see!? If only all tests were this straight forward...Congo is looking brighter by the minute - I should be sent to my posting by the end of next week. At present I am still waiting while other people get organised.
Kinshasa seems quiet compared to last week, but it is still too dangerous to go walking in the town. I do not like the restriction and lack of contact with the Congolese population - we are fairly limited to the UN compound or the hotel. I would just like to buy some food in the market and not eat in the hotel restaurant all the time - last night there was a power-cut during dinner, so I had a nice candle-lit dinner with my colleagues!

Tuesday, 8 June

Today I am back at work for the first time in 5 days. Although I am here, there is nothing much for me to do as I still need to do lots of paper work before I can start actually doing my job. Unfortunately everybody is busy catching up on all the work that has not been done over the last 5 days, so no one has much time to deal with my paper work! Besides, I need to go to another office and there is no transport to the other location due to the high possibility of new protests. Today we are finishing work early so as to be home before sunset - the night is meant to be a dangerous time in Africa...

Monday, 7 June

Today has been declared a holiday by the President due to the security situation. There is a Belgian delegation in town to try to mediate a settlement to the current problems. We are just sitting in the hotel awaiting any news - I am a bit tired of continually talking about the current situation. No one seems to know any facts - there are just rumours and speculation. It seems that if the negotiations are unsuccessful then we can expect more protests - otherwise things will go back to normal and I will be able to go to work. The situation out on the street seems calm enough and traders are out on the streets as usual.

Sunday, 6 June

It has now been four days since I last left the hotel. Today things seem back to normal - Sunday is a quiet day in Kinshasa. I decided to make a trip to the bakery - only 50 metres from the hotel, just to find it closed! I have really had enough of the hotel menu - mostly chicken and something or other!! It is quite expensive at $10 for a meal. The best meal is breakfast - coffee, omlette, bread, jam and orange juice. In the evening a colleague and I ventured out to a near-by fast-food restaurant where we were able to get a kebab and go to the neighbouring internet café - a change of scenery at least. Out on the streets there is a very high police presence and some signs of damage from the protests - though this has not changed the appearance of the city as it was in a mess before! We were told that the funerals of two protesters would take place on Monday and that there may be more protests next week. The wait and see situation will continue into next week. This evening we were informed that the protesters had postponed the protests in favour of negotiations with President Kabila. However, we were advised to remain inside and await further instructions.

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...

Friday, 4 June

The protests have ended (or moved to another part of the city). The area near our hotel is very quiet, but it is still not safe to go outside. Today is another day of waiting for news, eating and sleeping. The situation does not seem very interesting and I am looking forward to a change of scenery. The situation here in Kinshasa has certainly changed vis-à-vis the UN/local population. It is not even really safe to travel in a UN marked vehicle.
The local population are angry at the UN for not having done anything about the unrest in the east of the country. It is still not clear why the UN peacekeeping troops in the region did not intervene to stop rebel troops attacking the civil population, if this is the case. One reason may be that the UN cannot be seen to be taking the side of the Congolese in the conflict. Many stories are unfounded ruours and could easily have been created for political reasons. I hope to find out more soon...In the evening a colleague from Political Affairs called by to say that the situation in the east had worstened.

Thursday, 3 June

Demo5 Originally uploaded by jweatherlake.

Today I got ready to go to the office as usual - everything seemed quiet after the previous evening's demonstration. However, just as I was finishing breakfast the hotel manager told everyone to go upstairs as the demonstrators had recongregated on the main street. From upstairs we could see demonstrators laying siege to the city - smoke rising from various parts of the city and lots of students and other opportunist demonstrators on the street. I spent most of the day eating, watching TV and listening to various rumours. The main target of the demonstration was the UN as well as other Western and government targets. Similar protests have occured in most large towns across the country.
The protesters are angry at the success of Rwandan-backed rebel troops who have taken control of Bukavu, an important town in the east of Congo. The troops were supposed to be part of a recently-formed Congolese army, however, somebody paid somebody and this unit rebelled against the rest of the army. The remainder of the Congolese army fled and the UN peacekeeping force was too small/unprepared to challenge the rebels. The rebel troops have gone on the rampage - looting and pillaging anything they can. These problems are limited to the east of the country. Here in Kinshasa (in the west) things are peaceful apart from the protests. However, the protests are stopping the UN mission from functioning normally.
It was clear from the TV pictures that the protesters had caused quite a lot of damage - burning cars, buildings, looting etc. I heard that the appartement of some of my colleagues had been looted and that the crowd had tried to break in to a UN compound. The UN troops had responded by shooting two protesters as they were looting a UN compound. I heard sporadic shooting throughout the day - most of which must have come from the police as the protesters were mostly unarmed. I later heard that up to twenty protesters may have been killed - though there are many rumours around. We decided that it would be unwise to leave the hotel, so I spent the rest of the day sleeping and waiting for news.