 Close to 7 million people have been displaced due to fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Why has there been no end to the attacks by the M23 proxy rebel militia? Workers at Seoul's metro services have launched a strike. What are their demands? This is the daily debrief. These are your stories for the day. And before we go any further, if you haven't hit that subscribe button, please do. Close to 7 million people have been displaced in fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DRC. The fighting is taking place between the Congolese army and the rebel group M23, a proxy militia armed and backed by the DRC's neighbour Rwanda. Now, it has been going on for many, many months, despite the presence of soldiers from the regional bloc that's the East African community and UN peacekeeping forces. In fact, these foreign peacekeeping forces are extremely unpopular in the DRC. Meanwhile, the country is also heading towards presidential elections. We have with us Kambali Musawali for more. Kambali, thank you so much for joining us. Very alarming figures coming out of the DRC. The number of refugees touching around 7 million, fighting has been going on for a long time. In the meanwhile, we're also hearing about reports of what other regional forces, UN forces being completely ineffectual at this point. So, we'll go to these one by one, but first of all, could you maybe describe the situation on the ground right now? Where is the fighting really at its peak? The numbers, as you say, is close to 7 million now displaced Congolese in their home country. They are moving away from their homes due to the fighting taking place between government forces and proxy rebel militias, particularly the M23. Anytime we talk about the M23, I always assist. This is a proxy rebel force backed, supported, financed and equipped by the Rwandan military, the Rwandan Defense Force, the Rwandan government. The UN itself, with the UN group of experts, have documented in multiple reports the supports that the Rwandan government provides to the M23. This is happening in total impunity. Unfortunately, the Congolese people are bearing the brunt of this war, where to stay alive, they have to continuously move. And when they move, just think about it in context. Let's say if I am in DRC in the eastern part of the DRC today and fighting take place, I'm living in constant fear of my life that every day I must be ready to move to another place. Whenever I'm moving to other places for safety, I may die, not by the bullets, but because of the conditions in which I'm living. Whether I catch cholera, catch diseases, I could hurt myself. There are so many things that could happen to any individual in these circumstances. So when we're talking about 6.9 million people displaced, we really have to think about it as human beings, a family, a parent with the children. Children can't even go to school anymore because they have to be displaced. But this is happening today. The world, people are reading that because the world knows, the world governments know this is going on, but there is no action to bring it into the conflict. The common that has taken the lives of over 6 million people since 1996 and continue up until today. Right. Kamal, in this context, of course, we're hearing also about the East African regional community forces and we've talked about this before on this show as well. And of course, they're reaching the end of their mandate. So why is it that there is now clear clarity, it seems, in the DRC that this mandate will not be extended? The Eastern African community forces came into DRC to support the Congolese government to bring an end to the conflict in Congo, to stop rebel militias that the way it was presented, it was this regional force coming finally to end the crisis in the Congo. A few months after they arrived, we noticed with the commanders there, they clearly were saying that they are not in Congo to fight rebels. They are there for peacekeeping, which is disturbing for Congolese. Why? Because already we have the United Nations forces. The UN peacekeepers are in the DRC. It's the largest contingent of UN troops anywhere in the world with a 1.2 billion dollar budget. They've been there for over two decades now, almost two decades. With the presence in DRC, we have not seen peace. So there has been an eternal push in the Congo for the UN forces to leave. The people themselves have called for that. So hearing that there is an African solution, presented as an African solution of having countries, part of the East African community send their troops, that brought hope to some of the Congolese people, saying that finally we're going into a peace. But then after that, you observe that while we have the East African community forces in DRC, towns are being taken by rebels, particularly the town of Bunagana. Bunagana is a town in the eastern part of DRC. For over a year, this town is no longer in control of Congo. It's literally being run as a separate entity, absolutely the Congo with their own taxation through control of rebel groups, right in front of East African community forces. So that's what has been disturbing. And the Congolese people have put pressure on the Congolese government saying, if the ESC forces are in DRC doing the same thing as the United Nations forces, they also must leave. And there have been major protests in the town of Goma, where Congolese took it to the streets demanding that the ESC forces leave, as well as the UN forces leave. Unfortunately, that protest was violently repressed. Hundreds of Congolese were killed during that time. And the condability for the chain of command who within the Congolese army gave the order to kill civilians. The chain of command has not been held accountable to some low level soldiers who have been found guilty in military court. So in essence, Congolese people are yearning for peace. They're yearning for security. They're yearning to live another day without fear of death. Unfortunately, the solutions being presented with a military operation or military forces coming to the DRC is not solving the problem of the Congo because we know what's at the root of it. After we discuss all these symptoms of the conflict, the fundamental issue that we are facing in the Congo is that there is a struggle for Congo's mineral wealth, particularly minerals such as cobalt used in electric vehicles, minerals such as coltan used in cell phones. So this crumble of Congo's minerals is manifesting itself by chaos, by war, by war of aggression, by Congo's neighborhood around Uganda who keep the Congo destabilized so that resources can live at a cheaper cost illegally where Congolese people are not benefiting. Unfortunately, we the Congolese are the ones who are suffering at the end. And we're calling on the world. We're calling on Africans. We're calling on any person of good will to lift up the voice of the Congolese knowing that even in this chaos, Congolese are still in the fight to determine their own affairs. They are hoping to have an election where their voice will be heard even though it's going to still be contentious, but they are still fighting following the ideas and values of Patrice Lumumba, our first prime minister in 1960. Pat Kambali, you mentioned the elections. That is what I was going to ask next. And we know that again, we have done episodes of debrief in the past where we talked about the major questions regarding the process itself, whether it would be fair at this point. Now we are halfway through November. So could you also maybe give us a picture of what the electoral scenario is like right now? The elections in the Congo is worrisome. It's worrisome because one, as I said, Congolese are yearning to choose their own leaders. They are yearning to be able to have control of their own affairs, but they have so much challenges around them and they have to face them and they will surmount them. So what's the context of the elections? There was an election in 2018 that took place and in 2018, Felix Chisakili was declared the winner of the election. Many indications around the world already show us that this election was more by so many irregularities that he did not win. And actually the likely winner of the election was a gentleman by the name of Martin Faioli. He's also running again in this election. What's worrisome about the 2018 election? From 2018 to now in 2023, a month before the presidential election, about a month before the presidential election, we still don't have the detailed result of the elections. We don't know. Poll by polls, what were the results? So we have an electoral commission in 2018, came to the world and say, this is the winner, this winner won by X percent of votes, yet did not release the results. So we're going to the next election now with the same issues that we do not know what the electoral commission is going to do. But what has been happening that's creating this worry for the elections? Journalists are being arrested. We have Stanis Bujakera, who has been arrested for an article that was not penned by him. There is an editorial article that was written by the newspaper called Jean-Afrique, an editorial with no names. But in the Congo, he was arrested. What was this article about? The article was documenting the assassination of a member of parliament. The MP Okende was kidnapped in DRC while in a parking lot of the constitutional court because he was called into the court. The next day after that, he was found dead in his car with bullets in his body. So Jean-Afrique published an article with anonymous sources about that killing. A journalist working for the newspaper is in jail today and he's not being released. There was actually an appeal a few days ago demanding a temporary release for him, for Bell, still denied, still there. There are worries as that journalist. He's not the only journalist who's being targeted. Many journalists who are following what's happening with the elections and the situation in the Congo are being repressed. I mentioned the MP has been also killed. Opposition leaders in the campaign trail are also being targeted. Martin Fairou was in a campaign trail in the Cassay region and his campaign was stolen by supporters of the current regime while he was in the Cassay region. Not only that, let's look at the electoral process. They instituted a new voter role in DRC where everyone needed to go to re-register. It's not to update the voter role but they had to re-register for a new card and the ID card that was presented by the Electoral Commission is a black and white ID card. Anyone who has already taken their ID card, most of them are reporting that their face today is blurred. So we have millions of people who have ID cards where you can't even recognize their face and we are going through the presidential election. And last, that's also worrisome is that before the elections by law, the Electoral Commission is supposed to release the list of polling stations across the country. One month before the elections, we still don't have this list and we are getting pressure from unfortunately, as I said, the United States. Can you imagine the US Senate? I think it's Senator Cohen's. They are sending a letter to President Chisakedi around the electoral process. So the United States is appearing to be on the right side of the electoral process in DRC. Not mentioning that there should be transparency and that's why I'm challenging also the African Union. It's very important for Africans to understand what's happening in DRC because DRC today is at the heart of the fourth industrial revolution. In a moment where one of the largest lithium deposits has been discovered in Congo in Manano. In a moment where we are talking about having electric cars and Congo is the number one producer of cobalt. In a moment where Congo's resources is central to modern day technology, the people of the Congo are fighting to choose their leaders. We have 24 presidential candidates, one of them being a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Mukwege. And in the configuration of the elections, what the people want is a leader who represents the aspirations. And the outside interference risk having either Chisakedi stay in power because of the international geopolitics or one of the opposition leaders coming into power who may or may not change the dynamics of the policies in DRC. But in the final analysis, the people of the Congo want to choose their leaders so they can be held accountable. They don't want their leaders to be assassinated like Patrice Mumba. They don't want to be imposed leaders who do not come from the people. So as we are moving towards the presidential election in December, the way I'm looking at the presidential elections in Congo is that it's predictable that Chisakedi may be declared again the winner of a sham election. And it will be a rapport, the force between the people and the system saying that once again, the voice of the Congolese have been stolen. And when that happens, if that happens, our hope is that the world will stand with the Congolese as they are fighting to determine their famous. Thank you so much, Kambale for that very powerful analysis. Like you said, the DRC always a very important country to watch because of the reasons you mentioned as well. And we'll come back to you in the coming weeks as the election comes closer. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thousands of Seoul Metro workers launched a two-day strike on Thursday against proposed job cuts. The strike followed a breakdown in negotiations with the operator. And it's the second year in a row that industrial action is taking place. And he joins us for more. Anish, thank you so much for joining us. Recently, we talked about workers in Canada going on strike hundreds of thousands of workers in now other corners of the world. Seoul's Metro workers, very important, you know, segment of workers in the city where this forms a huge part of transport. Now also taking, going on protests. So could you maybe tell us what the issue is about? Well, the primary issue here, unlike the kind of protest that we talk about or the strikes that we talk about, it's not really centered around any kind of pay rise. It's primarily centered around this plan by the contractors or, you know, the facilitators of the Seoul Metro from, you know, for mass layoffs. And this is, so the operators want to actually lay off about close to 13% of Seoul Metro's workforce that comes to around 2,200 workers and about 360 or so alone this year. And this would actually, so we are looking at, you know, a sort of layoffs over the next five years and that is actually going to be far more disastrous. The reason they are giving is basically that that they are running on the deficit that Seoul Metro itself is running on the deficit. It's the total deficit right now is coming to around $13 billion or $13.5 billion. So it has been running under losses ever since the pandemic hit. But nevertheless, there has been very little investments coming from the government, especially under the current, the conservative government. And this has actually led to a situation where even though the losses have come down significantly over the past two years, it hasn't really translated into actually more benefits for either workers or passengers. So even though the Metro system is working far better and even though the footfall has also come back to pre-pandemic levels, the very lack of investments from the government is one of the things that is, you know, preventing this, creating this kind of situation where mass layoffs are seen as an option rather than, you know, more investment into the system. And the kind of workers that they are trying to lay off will be ones who would be involved in the security or safety network of the Metro system. And that is going to be even more problematic because that will impact the manner in which, you know, the quality of service or even, you know, safety of travelers for that matter within the Metro system. So Metro is one of the operators, a set of operators within the entire, you know, subway system, but definitely it is one of the biggest operators. It operates about nine lines of the subway system within the metropolitan area and kind of, and caters to millions of people every day. So any kind of cutting down on the safety and workplace safety, especially, and creating a shortage of workers is going to create a big problem on the long run. And this is primarily what workers are demanding that the operators go against, not only go against, but also actually include more workers and, you know, include more people so that there won't be a situation of shortage over the next few years because of retirements and other kind of layoffs that might happen. I presume negotiations will continue, but also this taking place even as a significant law seems to have been passed in South Korea regarding the rights of workers. So could you maybe tell us what that's about as well? Yeah, so it is kind of interesting how this bill got passed. It is called the Yellow Envelope Bill. Basically it's an amendment bill for the existing labor courts. And what it does is kind of multiple things but among the key issue provisions that are going to be discussed and will have been, you know, the part of the contention between the conservatives and the Democratic Party is primarily the fact that it will put contractors and subcontractors liable for workplace safety and all sorts of damages that might happen, which is something that Korea does not have unlike most other countries where contractors and subcontractors are the ones who would be pulled up whenever there is any, you know, damage of safety issues. It's usually the workers that are sued and who are not permanent workers who are contracted out are temporary and more or less like essentially seasonal workers in many respects and are deemed as self-employed under Korean labor laws. So the fact that these contractors and subcontractors will be held liable for their safety as well is something far more significant a step towards the right direction definitely and something that the unions have been talking about for ages now actually and at the same time it will also protect, you know, unions from, you know, any kind of attributive action for strikes that they might hold. Now one of the things is that Seoul, not just Seoul, South Korea as a whole has very restrictive set of laws when it comes to strikes and you can't really completely, there are very few situations or very few sectors that allow for a full-on strike and, you know, deem them as legal quote-unquote and, you know, with, you know, no pay cuts or anything but in most cases workers have to, trade unions have to arrange for a strike action that does not, you know, completely shut down the industry. Retributive actions have been far more common especially under the current conservative administration and we have seen, we have actually covered in the show as well how many of the trade unions have been targeted for their strikes especially organizing more, you know, unorganized set of workers like truck drivers or port workers and in most of these cases you have seen several kind of political action or, you know, pounding by this current government. So this law kind of targets these kind of political and vindictive action not just from the government but also from employers and kind of protects workers' rights to mobilize and organize for, you know, better bargaining powers and also for better, you know, better kind of working conditions that they do not really most of them cannot afford to in the current conditions. Thank you so much for that update. There are many struggles of workers continuing across the world and we'll be tracking all of these as they take place as well. Thank you so much. That's all we have in today's episode of Daily D. Briefly. We'll be back tomorrow with another episode. Until then, do visit our website peoplesdispatch.org watch all our YouTube videos and if you haven't hit that subscribe button yet please do.