Rêver

« Une enfant aime rêver, une adolescente rêve d'aimer. » C'est vrai non? Comme enfant on vit dans un monde imaginaire, mais quand on grandisse, on réalise que ce monde est irréel et on a besoin d’une autre personne pour aimer, pour supporter.

Looking at the images of the Mumbay attacks, I get this unaccustomed feeling. How can someone have this little, or better, no respect at all for human life? They attacked two luxurious hotels, an hospital, train station and police station. At this moment there have already lost 174 people their life in this tragedy.

May I proudly introduce to you: Maccie!

Height: 0.95 inch (2.41 cm)
Width: 12.78 inches (32.5 cm)
Depth: 8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
Weight: 4.5 pounds (2.04 kg)

Now Maccie and I are somewhat cool, except on the MSN and PhotoShop issue. As you all know, or may not know, I adore PhotoShop. The thing is that Maccie refuses to run the key patch, so in other words, it refuses to generate the codes I need to register my copy of PhotoShop. So this means a beef between me and my 'boy'. So far Maccie is winning and I do not like it at all! Maybe it is not a bad thing though, exams are coming so this way I can't get distracted.

Talking about exams, the university wanted to start a new exam system. They wanted us to register our own exams through Blackboard. This is a new way that they have never tried before so they wanted to use us just like they use mises in a laboratory. Peep peep! But this ain't really the time to start experimenting! It is commonly known that Blackboard cannot handle the huge amount of logins (we all noticed that when we wanted to check our exam results the past years) at the same time. And that is what you will have to do: login at the same time (at 12 when the lists are released and open for registration), because if you wait any longer, the best spots are taken! First come, first serve: my ass! If you are unlucky, you can have 6 exams in one week because all the other spots were already taken. You can use this kind of system when registering for practicums, because it is not that big of a deal if you need to be in class at moment a or moment b, but now we are talking about exams. Heck we should go on a strike!

Tomorrow, it is already December. The year is almost over again but yet it feels like January 1st, 2008 was only yesterday! Lots of things happened the past year: some good ones, some bad ones. In general is a pretty good year. I met new people who I came to cherish and love, I saw the true face of people who I thought were my friends and I finished my academic year successfully. I came to realize that things are not always what they seem to be, but when you are 100% sure that what you have is right, you have to hold on to him and never let him go. Don't take him for granted and be prepared to work on it. And prepared I am!

You are the first, the last, my everything

Been listening to Barry White all evening/night long. Hot tub, candle lights and soulful music; all boxes checked. My loved one; not checked yet, but December is close! Back to Mr. White. He has such a deep and strong voice that gives a completely different dimension to his songs. None of them would be so heart catching and breathe taking if they were sung by another artist who doesn't have such a powerful voice like Mr. White. "You are the first, the last, my everything".

Yesterday, I switched on the alarm on my phone and went to bed. I didn't notice that the battery was almost low so when I woke up this morning, the phone was off and I was already one hour too late! I succeeded to take a shower, brush my teeth and get dressed in less than 10 minutes. How I managed? No idea to be honest. I missed the train I normally take, but I managed to catch the later train and still arrive at university before the prof started his lecture. It required a lot of running and some luck with traffic lights though. I'm still not happy with the fact that no one cared to wake me up, even though they knew I always get up at 7 am on a Friday.

So I and my now 'boy', Maccie as I am calling him, are cool now. He earned his marks when he saved me today in class. Normally I always sit at the back so I can use my charger and the net power, because Winnie's battery (the old 'boy') only lasts for two hours. But since I was one of the last people entering the classroom today, the backseats with power supply were already taken. This meant I had to sit in the front, so I was worried I had to take notes by hand the last hour when the battery was low. But none of that! I still had 1 and a half hour battery supply left after the 3 hours lecture was over. It would have been a torture to take notes with pen and paper! It would be like this: I can note down the first part of the sentence, but somewhere halfway, I will get lost, and start a new line otherwise I would miss the next sentence. That is how slow I write.

Oh boy, it is already 4 am but I don't want to go to bed yet.

I should be going to bed but I don't feel like sleeping yet. Normally I have class from 9h30 until 12h30, but because he has a meeting tomorrow he decided to start teaching from 8h30! Boohoo, this means I have to wake up at 6 am. Well I could be complaining now, but in the end, the university days are the best days of a person's life! A normal job is more exhausting and demanding than the life of a student. I really admire those people that work from 9 to 5 (often even longer) and afterwards need to do the household! As for me, I have 3 or 4 hours of courses a day so I can easily do many things afterwards and still have a lovely evening.

I'm playing with my Macbook. Yes we made it up again! lol. It's so funny: when someone puts the light on my screen gets bright, when the room gets dark, my screen gets softer. Plus my webcam and mic work pretty fine, only not on Windows Live Messenger. Office for Mac works très bien and no problems opening my Windows typed Word files. Have not yet tried visa versa, but I don't expect too many issues.

And now I am going to take a shower and go to bed!

It's just those snowy days

As you would read in my previous post, it snowed a lot last weekend. This morning, the snow was still there and it was extremely slippery! In the 3 years I have my drivers license, I've never driven through the snow so I was very nervous and even scared. Just to make me feel better, mom drove with me to the station and dad followed me with his car. Arrived at the station, dad picked up mom, put her off as home and continued to his work. All this because I was too scared to drive through the snow! Parents ain't that bad after all... More so, they are actually quite great!

I was looking for this new versions of Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator to install on my MacBook when I bumped into the Adobe Masters Collection. Want to know the price? First make sure you are sitting stable on your seat or guaranteed you will fall off! US$2,499! Boo! I will just install my old PhotoShop through Windows once I got this Boot Camp to work!

This evening our Flemish TV stations received a DVD with a terroristic threat for Belgium saying we will suffer for sending F-16s to Afghanistan. Though there is a serious doubt whether the threat is real or not. There is no resemblance between the song heard on the DVD and the subtitles portrayed under the video. Plus the subtitles were written in excellent Dutch.

Going to bed now. Eyes are getting heavy. See you in my dreams hubby!

First snow

I'm sitting on my bed end, warm woolen sweater over my pajamas, fleece plaid wrapped around me, staring outside with those big eyes and thinking "heck no, snow". Yes that is right, it snowed last night. It's November and it snowed. I do not like snow at all! It's freezing cold, white and dangerous.

Snowed railway station at 7 am Monday morning

Bleh I was so hoping we would not have a family reunion this Christmas because we already had one last summer, but grandma insists in doing one. As food she chooses black pudding. I'm going to fake an illness that day because if I don't fake it, I will get sick from the food. Black pudding is so ewww!

Luckily we are going to have our own party on December, 24th! Veggies and fondue! There is no way I will look watch my diet that day! Heck no! I'll eat as much as my stomach allows me to eat because this is the only day a year I can eat it! I'm already drooling lol. Unfortunately there will be one family member missing, but he will be joining us next year.

I found this cute ass dress from House of Déreon. I so need to go to the US after my exams, even if it was only for one weekend! It would look great on a straight legged jeans and my blue Guess shoes who gave my those huge open wounds (which are still not recovered by the way). I'm prepared to suffer a little bit to look stunning, but this wound is way over the top. Someone, I don't remember who, made a stupid joke saying it was perfect cause it has the same shape as the African continent. He/she is right, it does look like Africa but it was still a lame thing to say cause it really hurts whenever I have to walk!

Yadi yadi yadi!

Putain de merde. Sorry for the cursing but it is absolutely not funny. I got my new MacBook at home, yes finally. So I was installing this Windows Live Messenger for Mac and I came to the conclusion that my MacBook webcam and mic are not supported through this program. So conclusion, I have a MacBook with integrated webcam but I can't do anything with it! Boo! But to every problem there is a solution! Solution one, I keep using my old laptop (something I am doing now) until it gives its spirit for once and for all. Solution two, from now on I will have to use Skype and pray it supports it. Possibility three, I use Boot Camp, install Windows and use my old messenger, praying it is supported through that system. Whatever option I choose, it sucks!!!

TGIF (Thank God it's Friday!) because I am tired. It's the weather though. I went to bed earlier than I normally do, but it is the lack of sun that messes up my energy level. Tomorrow I could slap my own head. When I closed the door and went outside, my scarf almost flew away and I was like "nice weather" on a sarcastic tone. My dad replied with "too windy". Can I be even more sarcastic than this?

Wednesday!

Dilemma! Should I buy the Macbook with the small 160GB HD or should I go for the large 250GB? It's just that I want to use Booth Camp and install Windows XP too in case I ever get a program that only works on Windows. But I'm kind of scared that the 160 will be too small for both OS and all my files (got over 60GB of music, I confess, I haven't listened to half of it and probably never will...). But if I buy the Macbook with the larger memory, I can better buy the MacBook Pro which has a bigger screen. Horrible right? Too much choice! Normally I'm pretty good at making choices because I am determined and know what I want. But not this time. I saw this nice protection cover... Delivery time: 3-4 months! How long does it take to make a cover? Do they need to breed the sheep and shave it before they can fabricate cotton or something?

Today I was at the parking lot next to the station and I was waiting inside my car cause I arrived too early. I confess, my music was on a somewhat high volume but everyone was looking at me like I was deaf or something. There was this rastafari guy and he was laughing really hard when he walked by! What's so wrong with P-Square blasting through my speakers? I dey wonder! Anyway, sun was shining so I didn't bother too much. It's always good to see some sun in this cold and wet time of the year. But oh boy I was mad today! Normally I could sleep till 8 a.m. because I only had classes from 10h30 until 12h30 and 14h00 until 16h00, but the government decided different! At 7 a.m. I heard this noise outside and when I looked downstairs, I saw some government employers cutting off trees, just like they did yesterday afternoon. I got up, all grumpy because I was looking forward to catch up some sleep. Booo!

Gotta bounce to class now but I'll be back lata.

Just another manic Monday

Fuck fuck fuck! My feet are killing me. Got 8 cm big open wounds on my heels from those new Guess shoes I wore today. Forgot a band aid at home so I had to use my (proper) handkerchief to stop the bleeding. Never knew the station was this far from my university. And mom was laughing with me. Remind my again why I love my good 6 years old silver Bikkembergs sneakers! I could wear those with no socks and still run the marathon without any blisters. My poor feet! I'll have to stay home tomorrow because I really can't walk on them. Taking advantage of the situation now. Probably even a bit of drama and exaggeration... lol

Today a lot of commotion in class. Some students left the room earlier because they needed to catch their bus. I do that too from time to time, but this professor didn't seem to like it. He started yelling at them "Pigs, really bad-mannered pigs. How do you dare to leave?! Get your ass out and don't dare to come back. If I see you in my class again, you will be expelled!". The girl next to me was laughing "now those students made a fool of themselves", but to me it was more like the professor made a fool of himself. You don't just start yelling at people, especially not when you are in his position. I could imagine it is not funny when people are living, but they were really quiet so his reaction was out of proportion.

It's so cold at the moment. You should see me right now. I'm wearing this woolen sweater which is two sizes too big, but very warm and cosy. Plus I got this 100% real feather blanket plus 2 fleece plaids wrapped around me. The best (read: worst) part is that it isn't even freezing outside. Maybe I should take a hibernation, just like bears do! But there are some things I like about winter though! For starters, the Christmas tree! I'm not religious or anything, but I adore watching the lights in the tree and their reflection on the balls in the tree. I can stare at them for hours, plus the tree smells so good. I also love the songs they play on the radio! And the Coca Cola add on television. Jingle bells, Jingle bells, jingle all the way. O what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh. Haha! Too early I know but the weather allows me to get in the Christmas mood.

Now my laptop is really defying me! The connectors between the screen and the rest of the stuff is completely burnt-out and often the screen goes blank or it shows white horizontal lines. I just hopes it keeps it up until December when I get my brand new MacBook as a Christmas gift to myself. Well not really to myself. I'm going to use the money I get from grandmother and grandfather, mom and dad and some other people and complete it with some I have left until I saved the full amount needed. Don't call me spoiled! I'm a student! We can't take notes with pen and paper, now can we?

When dreams go bad

Miss You by Aaliyah is blasting through the speakers of my laptop. I'm trying to get rid of this scary and strange feeling I'm feeling right now. It all started yesterday evening after Sheriff left to bed. I was still devastated about the conversation we had and I couldn't sleep. Around 3 am I finally stumbled asleep. Soon the nightmare started. I saw myself sitting at my desk, books all over the table. I saw my phone rang and I picked up. I heard my babies voice but it was different than the other times. I could hear the tears through his voice. When he said goodbye, it wasn't just a goodbye. It was like he was saying goodbye forever. I felt this cold feeling going through my body. When I called his phone some time later to check on him, one of his friends picked up. I could hear something was wrong. He told me Sheriff was in the hospital. The doctors said he took an overdose, accidentally, of sleeping pills and was now sleeping forever. At this moment I woke up, tears rolling down and I was bathing in sweat. I logged on to see if I could find him online. Up till now I am still trying to get rid of these feelings I'm having. I know it is just a dream, but it felt so real. I think periods and painkillers got a bad influence on my unconsciousness... Luckily it is all just one bad dream and soon I'll have him in my arms till death do us part.

Quote of the day
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Martin Luther King, Jr

A toast on love

Saturday night and I am studying. Or at least an attempt to study. Struggling to keep myself focused and the only thing that keeps me awake are the heavy old school hip hop beats blasting through the speakers of my laptop. All of the sudden I hear my phone going off. Wondering who is calling me at this hour of the day (or should I say night). When I finally found my phone under all the heavy books and bed sheets, I saw a picture of Sheriff on my screen. I was all smiles! This is the second day in a row that he surprised me with a phone call. Yesterday I was kind of dizzy cause I was already in a deep sleep and today I was groggy from the studying and pain medication. My apologies!

Car is fixed, finally. I haven't seen the result yet because my parents picked it up from the garage. The police still hasn't found the truck driver. I wonder if they even started the search... Most likely not! So we put on a paper asking eye witnesses to report to the police. Eye witnesses. Yeah right, welcome to the 21st century! "Oh look that truck crashes three cars. I'll just look the other way and act like I haven't seen anything because the car ain't mines anyway". That is how people are nowadays. If you put a € 1.000 reward, then you might be lucky someone remembers maybe the color of the truck or the firm logo...

Did you know that it has been more than 2 months since I last made something in PhotoShop? It is open, but I don't seem to have inspiration. I'm staring at the screen, pushing some buttons and draw some lines but that's it. I lost my "touch" and I want it back!

Oh geeh the sad songs are showing up again! Against All Odds (by Montell Jordan), End of the Road (by Boyz II Men), Endless Love (by Lionel Richie), Back to Black (by Amy Winehouse), Like You'll Never See Me Again (by Alicia Keys).

Cookies for the DRC

1 ton cookies have arrived in East Congo. This after the debacle of last week when they've sent... soap! Hygiene is important for sure, but we are talking about refugee camps with no water supply. People have to use rain water to bathe. From non official sources I heard that Angola has landed in Congo. If this is true, then it could get really nasty. Angola has a real strong army and if they indeed arrived, the intention is to get rid of Nkunda for once and for all. About Nkunda, I saw an interview of him and damn he fancied himself being Livingstone! He was sitting there surrounded by bodyguards and all. They got a name for this kind of behavior: megalomania, better known as delusions of grandeur!

Remember I had this bad dream about a train crash some days ago? Well today I turned on the radio on my way to the station and I heard that two trains ran into each other at the cross section. That's a bit different from my dream, but a collusion is a collusion! I can look into the future! Maybe I should use that gift to win the € 15.000.000 with the lottery! Haha! Would be super duper though! First I would buy myself a loft in downtown Antwerp, donate a large part to charity and help succeeding some dreams of family and friends. I would make sure mom and dad could retire earlier, that Sheriff could set up is own business, I would give grandma a car with driver so she can finally stop calling us day and night to drive her around, ...

What would be the perfect song for a first dance? So far my first choice would be Every Time I Close My Eyes by Babyface, second choice would be All My Life by K-Ci and JoJo and third choice could be Back At One by Brian McKnight. Today he asked why I changed my mind about marriage and stuff. I always said I found marriage a stupid tradition and that I did not believe in the use of the institution. Well I still don't believe in the institution of marriage because it was created as "social security" for the woman who gave birth the a child. It had the intention to bind the man to the wife and baby and make sure he had to feed and take care of them. That's totally irrelevant at current times because women make their own money and can also raise a child without the support of a husband.

Let me take this opportunity to congratulate Lolu for starting her own business called Panther Technologies! I'm sure you will succeed.

Writer's block

Gus, the world uglies dog died. How sad! It was suffering from skin cancer for a while now and has last the final battle. The price money it won with the election was spend on chemotherapy, but unfortunately, it had no effect. I'm sure it's now running around freely in dog's heaven.

Today I read an article tittled "the future is brown". It states that in the near future, the population will be mixed. People are starting to date "out of their race" and it will result in a "chocolate color". I'm not complaining. People should open their eyes and explore new cultures. Plus mixing "races" might also be a good thing because it makes the genes stronger. When someone breads inside their own race, they might pass wrong genes from generation to generation, but when it is mixed with another type of genes, it might prevent the bad genes from continuing. Or something like that... I remember my biology teacher telling us something like this back in high school. Way back... Ages ago... Like in the middle ages!

I started writing my paper today. I'm having a serious writers block. After 5 pages, I had absolutely no idea what else I could write about. It was more like "type one character, delete two characters". Never used backspace and delete more than today. My subject is "hidden and visible shortcomings in sales". Anyone willing to help me out? Think I am going to change all Dutch expressions with the Latin variant, just to make it longer and act "smarter". Some more white lines in between, bigger font, more subdivisions... Lol creativity needs to save my ass!

We shall overcome...

Today it is also Armistice Day. 90 years ago World War I ended. Over 20 million people found death in those horrifying 4 years. The end of this War was also the beginning of the new World War, mainly do to the "Diktat of Versailles". After the end of WWI, the winning side forced Germany into a heavy regime to pay back the damages. This weakened the whole country and allowed the NSDAP to grow stronger until Hitler got legally elected. So far my history lesson of the day! Time to wake up now.

President-elect Obama wants to over rule some of Bush's his decisions. It is a good thing because some of them are very important, for example drilling in nature reservoirs or stem cell research. Can't wait for it to turn January so Bush can get the hell out of the Oval Office!

Found this funny riddle online and I thought I should share it

Dear January,

how are February and March? April is not bad. Tell May, June and July that August, September and October got an accident in November.

Yours December

R.I.P Miriam Makeba

Yesterday, November 9th, Miriam Makeba (also known as Mama Afrika) died after performing on a protest concert against the Italian Mafia. She was only 76 years old. Many may not know her, but she is known for her hit single Pata Pata. She always resisted to the Apartheid regime and moved to the United States because she could not sing freely in her home country South-Africa. After she married Black Power-activist Stokely Carmichael, she was no longer welcome in the States and was forced to move to Guinea. Nelson Mandela persuaded her to return to South Africa in 1990.

R.I.P
Miriam Makeba
March 4, 1932 - November 9, 2008

Did anyone of you see the latest South Park episode called About Last Night... It features Obama and McCain. They used the presidential elections as a cover up for a diamond robbery. South Park is so sarcastic and I adore it! Talking about sarcasm, they broadcast House MD again. Whoot whoot! Finally! I was all smiles when I bumped into an episode yesterday evening. It's such a cruel yet funny series.

I got some pictures of my great purchases yesterday. I'm sure Lolu will turn green of envy when she sees them... lol... But for now I continue humming: "My Guess boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do. One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!"

Dreams

I had this horrible dream yesterday. I was in the train and it got hit by another train. I was in the first wagon that got hit and it got off the rails. After the collusion, it fell down the hill, full speed ahead. I saw the end nearing and then ... I woke up bathing in sweat! I don't know why I dreamed it, but hell it was a creepy one.

Today I swore I would study. I did! A little bit... I wrote this document about Congo vs Uganda. It was about the right on self-defense exercised on another country's territory. 30 pages in this annoying font so I just roughly scanned my eyes over it. If the professor asks me a question, I will just Google the answer.

What else did I do today? Oh yes I found me old yellow Gameboy today! Do you still remember those? It were the first Gameboy's produced. They had this green screen and no color at all. Oh god, good old memories! I think mines about 12-13 years old. First game I got was Super Mario. So I popped it in and it still worked! So I started playing and playing... Before I realized it, hours had passed and I was still striving the reach a higher level! I forgot how addictive things like this could be!

Proposition 8

I've always been complaining about our prime minister because of all the stupid things he said, but he is not alone. Berlusconi is a genius too when it comes to misplaced quotes. Today he congratulated Obama with his victory and called him "young, handsome, and tanned". Puhlease! Did he really have to say that? We all know he wanted McCain to win, but how can someone lower himself and make such a racist comment. He claimed it to be a joke, well mister Berlusconi, you are the joke!

Yesterday I had this conversation about proposition 8 with someone I know. Now this person is very religious and all so I knew his opinion about the subject. The only reason he could come up with is that the bible doesn't approve it. What the fuck?! Isn't religion supposed to be about accepting persons the way they are and not making exceptions? It's just a fucking book, written by and for people. How on earth can you deny people the pleasure and happiness to marry someone they love just because they have the same sex? That's not treating people equally, that is being narrow minded. I'm sure many of you may not agree, but we are in the 21st century and there is nothing wrong with same-sex love. Love is love so get over it!

I'm so glad this week is over because I am death tired. This morning I was only sleeping while brushing my teeth. But still I wanted to go to class because it is a really interesting subject. It's about international law and international organizations and I absolutely love it. It would be a perfect job for me, working for the United Nations. I would love to travel through Africa and go to all the conflict zones to intermediate.

Was at the library today and some guys where staring at my screen. I just hate when people do so. Never seen a laptop before? Well they kind of looked like Neanderthals so I could understand if they haven't... One of my msn contacts said I should put on a porn movie so they have something to look at! lol I would be expelled from school if I did! But it was a funny suggestion though.

"YES WE CAN"

Only 50 years after segregation, there will be a black president in the United States. On November 4th, history was written. Some people compare him to J.F. Kennedy or M.L. King. Hopefully he doesn't end up as tragically as them. Maybe he won because he was black, but it is mostly a sign that they did not agree with the 8 year Republican hegemony under President Bush.

What I noticed was that McCain's Concession Speech was the best speech I heard from him this campaign. It sounded even more democratic than Obama's Acceptance Speech. Even though the Americans (including California) voted for a democrat, California still voted conservative on proposition 8. Proposition 8 was an amendment to the California Constitution that eliminated the newly-declared right of same-sex couples to marry. 52,5% voted in favor for proposition 8. So bad. How can you say to people who love each other that they cannot marry just because they have the same sex? Love is love...

Today mom and I went to this flower shop to get a flower for my neighbor who is being operated tomorrow. It was the yearly open door day and they offered all kind of treats and wine. I had this nice white wine. Feeling a bit dizzy.

Elections and democracy

Who will become the 44th President of the United States of America. That's the question the whole world is asking. Everyone is sure Obama will get more votes, but so did Al Gore back in 2000 and yet Bush became President because he had more electors in the Electoral College. How does the system work? It is actually more like a race inside a race. Every state has a certain amount of electors. There are 538 electors, so whoever wins, that person has to score at least 270 electors. Most states have the "winner takes it all" principle. For example: California has 55 electors and it is almost certain Obama will win in that state. It doesn't matter if he wins with 1 vote more or 1.000.000 votes because the winner will take all the 55 votes. So this is something tricky. Most states have their own way of voting, only the "swing states" are very close. So whoever wins those states will most likely be the next president of the USA.

Over here in the West, we take democratic elections for normal. But for other parts of the world, it is an utopia. Some African examples of dictators who appropriated control after a coup or fake democratic elections. Examples are very easy to find. Campaoré from Burkina Faso, Biya from Cameroon, dos Santos from Angola, ...But what do most of those have in common? For starters, most claim to be a democracy, but in fact it is not. When you look at the Constitution (yes most have one, but as a future lawyer I know that it can be abused and read in a way no one would ever interpret it), you could conclude it is a free election. But what is the meaning of fear when people are openly brutalized? How can someone exercise their democratic rights to vote when they have to fear for bad consequences when the current leader will not be re-elected? Any election that is not free from fear, is not fair (dixit Sheriff).

Surprising news today. It was announced that Allen Iverson will play for the Detroit Pistons. I wanted him to play for the Miami Heat! Talking about the Heat, I feel another crappy season coming up. Right now they have a .333 score, almost as bad as last year when they ended last... Wade and teammates, it's time to wake up get your game together. We need the tittle back.

War in eastern Congo

The language of the weapons

The east of the Congo is, roughly speaking, corroded for 12 years by a cruel war for its ground and fertile soil. The conflict has many facets, but finds its actual origin in the people assassination in neighboring country Rwanda, back in 1994.

After that and the following power seizure by the troops of the current Rwandan strong man Paul Kagame, there was a massive refugee flow to Congo.

The pictures of the enormous refugee camps in the district of Goma, where many people died of the impact of infection diseases such as cholera, have been burned on many people’s retina.

But among those Rwandan refugees were also many radical Hutu's, who have made themselves guilty to people assassination in their home country. The new regime in Kigali started in 1996 a cleaning operation in the refugee camps.

At the same time the regime of former Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko appeared awfully weak. A year later rebel leader Laurent Désiré Kabila would march, in some months time, from eastern Congo to Kinshasa in the west of the country.

As for Mobutu, the only possibility he had was to take off as soon as possible. Kabila became the new strong man in Kinshasa, with the support of its Rwandan allies. In the east of the Congo the peace returned, unfortunately not for too long.

The “Rwandans” stir themselves

In 1998, Kabila gave the Tutsi in his government the outside guard. As from then, “Rwandan” became a curse word in the Congolese capital. Later, this would turn its back on Kinshasa, because promptly two new rebel movements arose in the east of the country, supported by respectively Rwanda and Uganda.

War violence burst again. The rebels, but also Uganda and Rwanda, could finance their war with the turnovers of the Congolese soil.

The Congolese government could hardly offer capacitance and had call for the support of Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia.

During the period 2002-2003 peace agreements were signed which led to a true peace process, democratic elections in the Congo and a regime under the guidance of Joseph Kabila. The weapons seemed to be silent once and for all. Democracy yes, peace no.

The democratization process in Congo can be called a positive tale, but in the east the restlessness returned.

This time Laurent Nkunda and his rebel movement “Congrès National Pour la Défense du Peuple” (CNDP) raised their voices. Nkunda claims to represent the interests of the Congolese Tutsi population, but he also gets the support from Rwanda.

For its fueling, the CNCP can count on the regime of Paul Kagame in Kigali that it is also dominated by the Tutsi. According to some sources, there are also Rwandan troops on Congolese territory, but that is not confirmed by independent sources.

It is certain, however, that the over-populated Rwanda has the need for more agriculture ground and for that it looks in western direction. The presence of former Hutu-rebels form seems to be the ideal alibi for Kigali to fasten on the fight by means of Nkunda. The presence of minerals in the eastern Congolese soil have been nicely taken along.

How wealth can also mean poverty

The violence in eastern Congo has already made an estimated 5.5 million deadly victims: such as 250,000 Rwandan victims, 10 to 15,000 Congolese citizen deaths and such a 5.4 million indirect victims.

In other words, the major majority has not succumbed in under the war violence itself, but became the victim of infant mortality, epidemics, banal infections or malaria.

The region can perhaps be immensely rich under its soil, the Congolese population of North-Kivu undergoes only the negative impact of this wealth.

They came from the east

The Tutsi or Watutsi initially descend from eastern Africa, supposedly Ethiopia, and descended to Central-Africa in the 11th century. Today they live mainly in the area of the Great Lakes.

In the 16th century, the area Tutsi monarchies arose. The Tutsi were stock breeders and became the aristocratic class in current Rwanda and Burundi. Their king - the mwami - governed as an absolute monarch.

The ethnic tensions between the Tutsi and the local Hutu population are secular and are exploited during the colonial administration of the Belgians.

Even after the independence of Rwanda, Burundi and Congo, there have been regular conflicts. They frequently degenerated into true massacres where ten thousands or even hundred thousands of victims fell. The Rwandan people assassination of 1994 was the sad peak.