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Ebola isn’t the only crisis unfolding in the DRC
How a political power struggle could distract from eradication efforts
An already deadly and worsening Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is compounded by the ruling government’s controversial attempts to simultaneously revise the constitution and retain power, according to a press review compiled by Radio Okapi and cross-referenced by Translator.
Citing various national press sources, the review summarises the rising death and infection toll in Ituri province, where the outbreak was first declared on May 17. It highlights an Info27 article in which virologist Jean-Jacques Muyembe points out that no approved vaccine or treatment currently exists for the prevalent Bundibugyo variant. Still, he emphasises that the DRC has contained 15 of the 17 previous epidemics due to rigorous health measures.
But while international media attention is largely framed around the risk of the disease spreading beyond the DRC as a result of USAID cuts, this press review shows that – for now – the greatest risks remain inside the country, where health and political crises are feeding off each other.
Le Potential details how the epidemic is growing amid an explosive security situation between the Rwanda-backed M23 fighters, Congolese forces and other militia groups, where disease hotspots are virtually inaccessible to medical teams.
The newspaper also highlights the political background: Tshisekedi’s attempts to revise the constitution and secure a third term, which have been met with fierce opposition. The daily newspaper reports the launch of the Article 64 coalition on May 19 – a group made up of major opposition parties which aims to prevent him from holding on to power beyond the end of his term in 2028.
Opposition leader Nicolas Lenga of the Envol party called the political manoeuvring “an act of rebellion against the Republic and a declaration of war on the Congolese people.”
This political uncertainty could easily distract from vital emergency response efforts in a country long beset by war, disease, and other crises.
The original article ‘Ebola en RDC: le gouvernement en première ligne contre une variante sans vaccin’ was published in French by Radio Okapi on May 20, 2026.
It is available here.
Radio Okapi is the radio of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the DRC. It began its programming in February 2002 from Kinshasa with the purpose of accompanying the peace process in the DRC.
Summary by MBM
A Communist history of hip-hop
East Germany’s little-known musical history and the ongoing fight for recognition
Breakdancing, rapping, DJing and graffiti may not be the first things that come to mind when one thinks of Communist East Germany in the 1980s. But it was in fact home to one of the Eastern Bloc’s most lively underground hip-hop scenes, writes Benedikt Kendler in Berliner Zeitung.
The German Democratic Republic (GDR)’s “B-Boys” – as the breakdancers called themselves – first gathered around stereos in the mid 1980s in cities like Dessau, renowned for the revolutionary Bauhaus design school in previous decades. They would perform outside on the street, spinning across the pavement on their heads and hands to bewildered passersby.
But how did hip-hop make its way from its 1970s origins in the Bronx of New York City to East Germany? According to the article, it was first seen on West German television in 1983, when Thomas Gottschalk hosted a breakdance competition on his show Na sowas!. Initially, the imitation of a youth culture from the capitalist West was met with repression from authorities. B-Boys were arrested and police officers attempted to infiltrate the groups.
“Once I came to school with a Marlboro bag. After 10 minutes, I had to hand it over to a teacher. Simply because it was from the ‘enemy,’” recalls Mike Buchmayer-Zacke (also known as Magic Mayer).
The tide turned when the American hip-hop film Beat Street (1984) was approved for cinema release in the GDR. It was seen as an unfiltered portrayal of how Black youth were exploited and oppressed in poor neighbourhoods in the United States. Producer Harry Belafonte was admired in East Germany for his role as a peace activist and Black civil rights leader.
Breakdancing was soon co-opted as a tool of Communist propaganda, and it became a lucrative business after it received official support and cultural funding from the authorities. Buchmayer-Zacke said that at one point he was earning as much as a doctor.
But while music travelled through the airwaves, other materials like spray cans and tracksuits were harder to come by. “We made our own clothes or managed to get them from West Germans,” recalls Weimar rapper Frank Happich. His prized possession was a Walkman, acquired through Mozambican factory workers who, unlike most East Germans, were permitted to travel to West Berlin.
Little remained of GDR hip-hop after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989: “What we had back then is gone. After the reunification of East and West Germany (the Wende – “the change”), a lot of the hip-hop culture faded away,” Buchmayer-Zacke says. State funding for cultural activities including breakdancing was cut, and many B-Boys moved to the West where they quickly became disillusioned by the commercialisation of a subculture once rooted in resistance.
Today, people like Joerg Schnurre from the Dessau-based Newkid association are campaigning for official cultural recognition of the art form in East Germany – as has happened in western German cities like Heidelberg.
“Recognition as cultural heritage would give many a new sense of self-confidence and show that the specifically East German hip-hop culture is being seen and appreciated,” he said.
The original article ‘HipHop als immaterielles Kulturerbe? Eine Dessauer Initiative arbeitet daran’ by Benedikt Kendler was first published in German by Berliner Zeitung on April 2, 2026.
It is available here
Berliner Zeitung is a German daily newspaper based in Berlin. It was founded in 1945 in East Berlin and became an important newspaper in the GDR.
Summary by IJ
Trouble in the Albanian Alps
How a scheme to boost economic development in Albania’s mountainous north could end up enriching a few, harming the environment and angering its neighbours
There are few true mountain wildernesses left in Europe. In Switzerland, Austria, France and Italy tunnels have been bored through solid rock to connect railways and roads through the Alps. Once-remote landscapes have become more accessible. But the process has generally been slow – spread out over many decades, allowing for change which now feels organic rather than forced.
The Albanian Alps are an awe-inspiring range of soaring peaks along the Albanian and Montenegrin border, long considered of marginal economic value but now viewed as a source of tourism income. According to an article from the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG), change may be coming quickly, disruptively and controversially.
For much of the last century, the border was a stark political dividing line, even as the ecosystems on both sides remained fundamentally interlinked. Now, as the Albanian government seeks to develop the area – with a 2025 law called the “mountain package” at the centre of it – difficult questions naturally arise: should it be developed at all; by whom; for whom; and with what consequences, on both sides of the border?
Kristijan Gura, a 27-year-old café owner, thought the law would benefit people like him, by effectively legalising past construction on land passed down from generation to generation without established legal title. Instead, a photo shows him in front of buildings bulldozed after the law was passed, as part of an enforcement action against illegal construction. He’s now left with a €100,000 loan, and nothing to show for it.
What’s going on? The article suggests the law – sold as helping existing residents to get legal title for land, sometimes by paying a symbolic €1 fee to purchase state land – is rapidly turning into something else: a bait and switch. Small-scale local development may end up being replaced by large-scale development decided upon, not locally, but in the capital. Article 8 of the mountain package law allows for once “untouchable” public lands to be swallowed up in private development projects.
The word “agroturizam” is used frequently in the article – denoting things like farm-stays, or restaurants and cafés linked to small agricultural holdings. The vast bulk of applications made by locals to benefit from the law’s provisions fall under this rubric. (There are other categories: including livestock farming, and solar and wind farms).
In fact, the law is steering things towards bigger, more capital-intensive projects. Tourism expert Ardiola Alikaj warns that these may provide employment, but most benefits will flow to investors. “Agritourism is used as a legitimate narrative of state policy,” professor Doriana Musai explains, “but the real result is intensive tourism disconnected from the local social and economic structure.”
The change from small-scale to large matters environmentally, too, given the region’s ecological diversity and fragility.
The Albanian Alps contain some 1,500 plant species, 40 per cent of which are endemic. There’s a huge variety of trees (beech, Molika pine – also known as Macedonian pine – and alders are amongst those mentioned). The list goes on: 155 types of bird, 60 types of animals, some protected under EU law.
This picture of richness and diversity is matched on the Montenegrin side. “Last year,” the article notes, “hidden cameras recorded lynx, amongst the most endangered animals in the Balkans.”
CIN-CG raises concerns of a further worrying shift: a requirement to collect copious socio-economic, environmental and other data before a project is approved has been, in practice, massively watered down. “Subsequent legislation usually becomes more detailed”, Professor Erjon Muharemaj notes: “The opposite happened here.”
Albania’s neighbours are looking on in concern. “We have absolutely no information,” the mayor of the Montenegrin town Gusinje tells CIN-CG. This may end up having wider political ramifications. Albania is seeking to join the EU; if it doesn’t follow EU rules, might that bid become unstuck? Marija Lekić, representative of a Montenegrin bird protection NGO, notes that under the Espoo Convention, Albania is required to notify neighbours of developments with possible trans-boundary impacts.
“Podgorica [the capital of Montenegro] must react,” says one local activist.
The original article ‘“Planinski paket” - dogovor od jednog eura koji prijeti nacionalnim parkovima Balkana’, by Ola Mitre, Aida Ciro, Kristi Bašmili and Nemanja Živaljević was first published in Montenegrin in CIN-CG on February 24, 2026.
It is available here.
The Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro is a foundation dedicated to public interest investigations in Montenegro, and part of the Global Investigative Journalism Network.
Summary by CEM
Translator Issue #3 is available now!
Inside, you’ll find stories from across the world: a Korean middle school on the political frontline, the world of gaming in 1980s Hungary, the fragile ecology (and mystery) of eels in northern Italy, the culture of shamans on the border of China and Vietnam, a searing investigation into Romania’s aesthetic gynaecology industry and Translator’s original Street Talks give voice to hyperlocal stories from Tehran, Karachi, Kyoto, Gaza and Bangalore – all illustrated by artists from around the world.
Plus: Abdul Bacet’s photo essay on Babur’s Gardens in Kabul, an interview with Abeera Kamran and Zeerak Ahmed on digitising the Urdu script, a multilingual crossword, and reviews of Polly Barton’s debut novel and Alexander Voloshin’s migration memoir.