A New Crisis in Congo?

Available for over a year

We look at how money could be inspiring a new descent into violence in Africa. The government in the Democratic Republic of Congo has postponed this year's elections by 18 months, saying the voters' register is not ready. The opposition and western donors suspect this is a power-grab by the president, and say it could draw the country into a new conflict. The DRC has already suffered years of war, largely fueled by its lucrative mineral resources. We hear from a government spokesman, an opposition presidential candidate, Emmanuel Weyi, and from Sasha Lezhnev, associate director of Policy at the Enough Project, a US-based atrocity-prevention policy group focused on Central and East Africa. It is publishing the report A Criminal State on the situation in DRC later this week, and believes that corruption within the international trade in minerals is a large factor behind the crisis. Also, Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times reflects on the corporate addiction to the concept of creativity, something she says is massively overrated in business. (Photo: Opposition supporter at a rally in Kinshasa. Credit: Eduardo Soteras/AFP/Getty Images)