Christoph N. Vogel
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ethuin.bsky.social
Christoph N. Vogel
@ethuin.bsky.social
Researcher, advisor, scholar and investigator. Hiphop and cooking aficionado. Kujenga amani lazima kuelewa vita.
Reposted by Christoph N. Vogel
Out now! Summary Report: Workshop on the Geopolitics of Critical Minerals and the AI Supply Chain www.ias.edu/sites/defaul...

The report highlights how AI’s expansion is tied to critical minerals, energy, water, land, and labor—and why interdisciplinary approaches are essential for AI governance.🧵
August 27, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Last week, the US brokered a peace deal between Congo and Rwanda. As in many previous agreement, the dismantling of the FDLR figures prominently. If you like to dive deeper into why that may prove complicated, have a look at my recent essay about the group…
Right on time for Labour Day, my latest piece of work which investigates the interplay of violent conflict, economic governance and the politics of conflict in eastern Congo through the prism of the FDLR’s “nonconventional logistics”.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Nonconventional Logistics: Rebellion, Resources and Rationalities in eastern Congo
Research on war economies is dominated by positivist paradigms of rationality and epistemic assumptions of alterity. Such frames misread how rebellion…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 1, 2025 at 6:57 AM
A true intellectual treat and privilege to participate in this timely workshop convened by @alondra.bsky.social @tcarayannis.bsky.social and Marie-Thérèse Png last week under Albert Einstein’s perennial sights at IAS.
June 6, 2025 at 11:53 AM
New report on how the outsourcing of warfare has become an ever more dominant feature of conflict in eastern Congo — with its very own protracted logics but not entirely unlike other theatres of contemporary wars. Read on and download below.

www.ebuteli.org/publications...
Fighting Fire with Fire in Eastern Congo:The Wazalendo Phenomenon and the Outsourcing of Warfare | Ebuteli
This report traces the evolution of the Wazalendo (“patriots”) phenomenon, an eclectic coalition of armed groups which became key allies of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FA...
www.ebuteli.org
May 17, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Very insightful piece, thank you 🙏🏽
May 4, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Right on time for Labour Day, my latest piece of work which investigates the interplay of violent conflict, economic governance and the politics of conflict in eastern Congo through the prism of the FDLR’s “nonconventional logistics”.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Nonconventional Logistics: Rebellion, Resources and Rationalities in eastern Congo
Research on war economies is dominated by positivist paradigms of rationality and epistemic assumptions of alterity. Such frames misread how rebellion…
www.sciencedirect.com
April 30, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Timely piece. Open Doors, some type of a messianic misinformation outlet, has also been instrumental in propagating the 12 February fake massacre of Christians reported from eastern Congo’s Beni area. Happy Easter everyone!
Aux #États-Unis, des politiques chrétiens, en particulier évangéliques, affirment que les croyants au #Nigeria seraient victimes de violences, voire de "génocide". Le politiste Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Monclos questionne ces dénonciations et les biais des promoteurs de ces thèses⬇️
Des États-Unis au Nigeria, la fabrique d'un « génocide des chrétiens » - Parti pris
Aux États-Unis, des responsables politiques chrétiens, en particulier évangéliques, affirment que les croyants au Nigeria seraient victimes de violences, voire de génocide. Le politiste (…)
afriquexxi.info
April 21, 2025 at 4:59 PM
On this day in 2017, Michael J. Sharp and Zaida Catalán were assassinated while investigating war crimes in Congo’s Kasai region. Most people behind this political murder enjoy impunity until today, just as much as others involved in killings in the region for over three decades.
March 12, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Reposted by Christoph N. Vogel
Ali Kony was supposed to succeed his father Joseph Kony at the helm of the LRA. He acted as the LRA's 'foreign affairs minister', but decided to escape.This is a story about Ali, and what the LRA still means today. My article in @newhumanitarian.bsky.social www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2025...
February 25, 2025 at 10:28 AM
#Germany perfectly aligning with global trends in tonight’s post-election TV shows. Election winners (except one…🌹) agitating in favour of breaking existing international and national law, losers timidly defending it.
February 23, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Germany — Today is a good day to vote against Nazis, and anyone abetting or supporting them.
February 23, 2025 at 11:48 AM
“[…] Against this backdrop, the current escalation seems increasingly reminiscent of the turmoil and regional conflagration of the 1990s.”

Written a year ago, where are we now?

newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

@newleftreview.bsky.social
Christoph N. Vogel, Intractable Crisis — Sidecar
Escalation in the DRC.
newleftreview.org
February 19, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Thanks for this reminder. If only German voters could go to the ballot with that in mind this weekend…
February 19, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Reposted by Christoph N. Vogel
If you’ve never been there and all you read is the headlines you’d be forgiven for thinking that the DRC is just a basket case but for all its problems - and there are many - Bukavu is really one of the most beautiful places.
February 17, 2025 at 12:19 PM
In parallel, heavy gunfire was reported inside Uvira this morning and the situation along the RN5 stretch leading northwards towards Kamanyola and Bukavu remains tense. One of Bukavu’s most appreciated police commanders was killed by militia while retreating.
February 16, 2025 at 4:21 PM
On Saturday evening, the army shortly re-entered the city in view of displaying authority. However, with M23 entering the following morning, no further government troops had been seen in the city center in recent hours.
February 16, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Parallel to first reports of M23 nearing Bagira neighborhood, FARDC and government authorities retreated. The retreat and parallel non-entry of M23 created a vacuum during which several warehouses and premises were emptied of stocks by civilians and scattered wazalendo.
February 16, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Since last week, the possibility of an M23 move into Bukavu had led to negotiations in which civil society and church representatives had lobbied the military to avoid any major urban fighting similar to Goma on 28 and 29 January.
February 16, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Evolutions around Bukavu, including the capture of Kavumu airport around Friday noon, have inspired more people to leave the area, many headed to Bujumbura. There, hundreds of Congolese who have entered legally are currently rounded up for unclear reasons.
February 16, 2025 at 4:20 PM
This morning, M23 entered #Bukavu and took control of key locations including the governor’s residence and Ruzizi 1 border crossing. Amidst broader confusion, M23 entry had been erroneously reported since Friday night owing to inconclusive videos circulating on social media.
February 16, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Yesterday, I briefed the European Parliament on the escalating crisis in eastern Congo. The session can be streamed here: multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/webstream...
Delegation to the Africa-EU Parliamentary Assembly Ordinary Meeting - Multimedia Centre
The multimedia platform of the European Parliament is the official public available repository of the media production of the Secretariat of the European Parliament, managed by the Directorate-General...
multimedia.europarl.europa.eu
February 14, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Version française de notre analyse, avec @judithverweijen.bsky.social, du focus parfois exclusif et malsain sur les ressources naturelles dans la couverture de l’escalade des conflits dans l’est du Congo.

www.jeuneafrique.com/1657155/poli...
Non, le conflit en RDC n’est pas qu’une histoire de « minerais de sang » - Jeune Afrique.com
Même si imputer la crise dans l’est du pays à une simple soif pour les ressources minières est séduisant, les médias internationaux, en se contentant de cette version incomplète, nourrissent un terrea...
www.jeuneafrique.com
February 12, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Mainstream discourse on conflict in eastern #Congo overemphasizes the role of natural resources. This precludes a more solid and thorough analysis overall. @judithverweijen.bsky.social and I explain how and why 👇🏼
Most reporting on the M23 crisis in DR Congo is using mistaken framings, suggesting the conflict is purely driven by a desire to plunder the region’s rich mineral resources. Opinion from @judithverweijen.bsky.social and @ethuin.bsky.social: ⬇️
Why conflict mineral narratives don’t explain the M23 rebellion in DR Congo
False framings can exacerbate the problems they seek to tackle.
buff.ly
February 12, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Christoph N. Vogel
M23’s resurgence is just one piece of a much larger regional crisis.

Centre Fellow @ethuin.bsky.social explains the dynamics at play in the #EasternCongo in our latest rapid insight piece: www.armedgroupscentre.org/m23drc-vogel
Centre on Armed Groups — The M23 crisis in the DRC
www.armedgroupscentre.org
February 9, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Germany wasn’t either.
February 8, 2025 at 11:38 AM