The Bangui National Forum is just over. The last speech rang out in the Parliament late this afternoon; tomorrow’s Air France flight from Bangui – Paris will be packed with suits, flying back to Europe to file reports on possibilities for peace in CAR. For those of us who are not leaving (I’ve been here […]
The Bangui Forum – national Dialogue or political Disaster?
The freshly-painted banners are lying on grass banks drying out in the sun: mobile phones are bleeping with sms texts announcing ‘the Bangui Forum – flame of hope.’ Bangui’s diminutive M’Poko airport is rammed with visitors coming to the forum which will run from 4-11 May. But what’s it really all about? When journalists write […]
In which I write a stream of consciousness because it’s late, for me, and because I’m in recovery
Is it too late to say happy new year? Surely not, because it is a happy new year for me, and I warrant you can carry on basking in the new year glow until at least mid January. I spent Christmas here in sunny dusty Bangui (the rainy season finally dried out mid December) and we […]
After the violence, the calm?
Well hello! It’s been a while, but I’ve finally found a time to write about life here in the quartiers of Bangui in the Central African Republic. To set the tone: just about 45 minutes ago I was standing inside a sweltering bakery, inhaling the aroma of fresh bread, and even the bread-furnace-heat couldn’t drive […]
