News in General:
First of all I must say that it’s difficult to know what is correct and what’s incorrect of all the information we get in the “Congo-case”. We do our best in the situation at hand, but the readers must have us excused if we post information that turns out to be not totally accurate.
There is a good sign that a Congolese state attorney has said that he’s sceptical to the way the case has been handled in Kisangani. This gives us hope.
The Foreign Ministry has according to Joshua had conversations with the chief for the UN in the Kisangani’s province. The chief is a Bulgarian. They are worried about the situation for the two Norwegians and they take it very serious, and keep a close watch of what is happening.
News about Joshua:
After some struggle and difficulty today I got to talk to Joshua on the phone. He has felt sick with malaria since yesterday, but hadn’t started on medication yet when we spoke. This has to be approved by the authorities – I think it means the prison authorities in first hand. I see in the online newspapers this evening that he apparently had a doctor there and got medication. I have called the “secretary” at the Foreign Ministry to verify this. This person didn’t know anything. This is a situation we experience a little too often, and it’s not easy to be relying on Norwegian journalists all the time to know what’s going on.
Joshua’s biggest frustration is that he doesn’t know what’s going on with his good friend Tjostolv. I told him what I know such as him being in a clean room with fresh air. He had no information about the trial regarding him in this coming week. He said he thought there had been something in the media. He also thought the British representative would come from Kinshasa to Kisangani tomorrow. In other words: He doesn’t know much of what’s going on outside the prison walls at the moment, and feels frustrated about that.
I asked him again if he felt safe in the prison without Tjostolv. His response to that was that every day prisoners comes up to him and thanks him for the emergency provisions we got into the prison the passing week. Their fellow inmates are also worried that the boys will be removed from the prison they are in now.
Tjostolv and Joshua probably have meant a lot to some of their inmates.
We also talked about Rune Edvardsen and his delegation to Congo. Joshua begged us that no one from our family would come. He does not think it will be save enough for us.
News on Tjostolv:
From a person in Kisangani who was at the hospital today, Tjostolv was asleep in his hospital room. The guards had said that he eats well and takes his medication himself. He is calmer and talks normally, or at least more normally. He asked about Joshua. The Moland family havn’t heard anything since Thursday. As I write this (at 19.45 Sunday evening) I got another message from Kisangani. Someone asked the Foreign Ministry’s Representative down there now, Fred Rasmussen, why the Moland family havn’t received any information about Tjostolv’s situation. He referred to the press-centre in Norway. I assume that this must be the Foreign Ministry’s own press-centre.
Questions that are often asked:
There are many of you who are wondering about the widow and children after the dead driver.
This family has experienced a tragedy, and in Congo there is no welfare system like we have here in Norway. We in Tjostolv and Joshua’s families can’t do anything for the widow and her family, this has something to do with the question of guilt, and there is no enforceable verdict yet. But from May the widow and her family have been supported by the Dina-Foundation with a payment every month. She has been promised this support for two years. It’s good for our families to know that they have some financial security, even tough it of course can’t help the grief.
A thought we have, is that later (regardless of the question of guilt) it can be a chance to give each child a scholarship. The widow has also expressed to Norwegian media that she wants to go to nursing school. In Congo there is custom that even though someone are acquitted of lets say murder, one can still be sentenced to pay compensation. The way things are down there with the corruption, compensation to the widow will disappear before the widow gets it. So it would be nice to find a solution we know could really make a change, and that the widow and her family can benefit from.
Kari Hilde French October 25th
