|
The US should encourage Congolese President
Joseph Kabila to move beyond a military response
to rebel groups to a more strategic effort
to bring lasting peace, say security experts
and human rights advocates.
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science MonitorJohannesburg, South Africa - As a top representative
of the world's most powerful nation, Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton might feel a certain tug to "fix"
the next country on her seven-nation African tour,
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
And why not?
Congo has been the center of an on-again off-again
civil war – funded largely by the control of
lucrative mines by rebel militias – that has killed
some 5 million people since the mid-1990s and
turned one of Africa's richest sources of minerals
into one of the world's poorest countries.
At present, Congo is carrying out a joint operation
with the world's largest United Nations peacekeeping
operation to eradicate a foreign militia that has had free reign
in the eastern part of the country for more than a decade
and that is blamed for the genocide of
more than 800,000 Rwandans in 1994.
If ever there was a country that would seem
to need America's support, it is Congo.
Yet security analysts and human rights activists
warn that the US should be careful in how it gives
its support in Congo.
The US should press the Congolese government
to protect its citizens more, they say, and should
press Congolese President Joseph Kabila to move
beyond a purely military response to rebel groups
to a more strategic effort to bring lasting peace.
Turning point?
"We are at a turning point for the DRC, and this might
be the right moment for more international involvement
in Congo, led by the United States," says Guillaume Lacaille,
a Congo analyst with the Brussels-based International
Crisis Group in Nairobi, Kenya.
Pointing to a recent joint operation between
Rwandan forces and Congolese forces that has flushed out
some Rwandan rebels known as the Democratic
Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR),
Mr. Lacaille says that Congo has finally reached a point
where it can end its many wars and work towards
true governance.
"Rwanda and Congo are working together jointly; there
is fresh thinking among the international community about
how to bring peace to Congo," says Lacaille.
"While there are problems with the Congo's current operations,
the FDLR [ARE] now totally isolated, and the fact that
they have decided to go after the population
is a sign that they have lost their political backers
and lost all legitimacy as a political movement.
This is the time for the international community to act, now."
Military operation provokes backlash
A purely military solution simply won't work,
Lacaille and many human rights activists agree.
While an ongoing joint operation between
the Congolese Army and the UN peacekeeping force
has managed to push FDLR rebels deeper into the bush,
it has only managed to disarm about
500 FDLR soldiers (out of a 6,000-strong standing force).
Meanwhile, the operation has radicalized the FDLR,
who have intensified brutal attacks against
civilian populations in FDLR-held areas.
Since the military operations began in January,
more than 600 civilians have been killed in eastern Congo,
and some 800,000 displaced from their homes.
"The UN-backed offensive that was supposed to make life better
for the people of eastern Congo is instead becoming
a human tragedy," said Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam
for the DRC, in a statement.
"Secretary Clinton needs to make it very clear that
US support for the UN's efforts in Congo is not
a blank check and that civilians should be protected."
Hillary Clinton aims to revive US influence in Angola
--
J-L K.
Procurement Consultant
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Gsm: (250) (0) 75-079-9819 (Rwandatel)
Home: (250) (0) 25-510-4140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali - RWANDA
East AFRICA
jlkayisa@yahoo.com
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Blog: http://cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID: kayisa66
--
J-L K.
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: (250) (0) 78-847-0205 (Mtn Rwanda)
Gsm: (250) (0) 75-079-9819 (Rwandatel)
Home: (250) (0) 25-510-4140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali - RWANDA
East AFRICA
jlkayisa@yahoo.com
http://facebook.com/kayisa
Blog: http://cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID: kayisa66
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