This Week in the Great Lakes: Ben Affleck explains why Congo is worth caring about
| Kigali, Rwanda
I took the American Thanksgiving holiday last Friday, so here's two weeks' worth of interesting bits from Africa's Great Lakes...
Rwanda is selling a 25 percent stake in the nation's state-run (and only) brewery, Bralirwa. The sale would mark the country's , and banks are offering specifically for those interesting in purchasing shares in the brewery.
Some genocide prisoners convicted at the Arusha tribunal will spend their in Senegal. Prosecutors get 30 more days to build a would-be politician Victoire Ingabire.
Rwanda returns two to Congo. More farmers get access to weather-based programs. The national campaign against moves slowly. 700 hotels and restaurants are slated to get .
Congo's former vice president, Jean-Pierre Bemba, faces a by the International Criminal Court trial for crimes allegedly committed by Bemba's troops in the Central African Republic. Witnesses their faces and voices.
The UN Group of Experts comes out, top Congolese army officials involved in mineral trading and detailing activities. Congo the report's allegations that rebels are regrouping in the east. The Security Council slaps some rebel leaders with .
exploration may begin in Lake Albert. UNESCO asks for oil exploration in Virunga National Park. Congolese apes are .
takes center stage for Congo again. One major media outlet the substance of what he says and asks why such a pretty face cares about such a dark place. Others worry that "UN peacekeeping has lost Hollywood" 鈥� and that, we are , "is not a good sign." Congolese soldiers Indian peacekeepers.
Congolese women also work in . Congolese men are also .
Thirty-three prisoners from a jail in Bulowo, near Lubambashi. "This jailbreak is not linked to bad prison conditions, though we have just one holding area, in which those sentenced for 30 years are next to those serving a few months," the prison director said.
Congolese phones get and Internet-based chat services. Congo 100 "non-viable" universities. DRC records 63 new cases. Belgians across Congo.
Burundi sends 850 more to Somalia, bringing the deployment total to 8,000. The Ugandan force commander says the mission needs another . Burundi asks for a review of the AU mission's .
Four people in a shootout with government forces near the border with DRC. Burundi opposition leaders ask for . Burundi's ruling party a dialogue meeting of the diaspora in Holland.
Inflation 4.7 percent. Tea earnings 4 percent. Bujumbura streets with 10 million Belgian Euros. The British to Burundian outhouses and "flush away poverty."
In the region, the is short on cash. The UN for money. The US for DNA and other biometric data on Great Lakes political VIPs. A regional peace forum the controversial UN Congo Mapping report. Rwanda and Burundi to sign a non-proliferation agreement on light weapons; eight other countries .
鈥� Jina Moore is a freelance reporter based in Kigali, Rwanda who blogs at .
