From NCN 16/10/98
Maybe the US is beginning to see through Uganda/Rwanda and just what their real intentions are:
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American ambassador to Kinshasa condemns Rwandan and Ugandan interference in the Congo
Possibly the beginning of a major American peace initiative
Mathew Bunce reported for Reuters that the American ambassador to Kinshasa, Mr. William Swing, has criticized Uganda and Rwanda for their participation in the DR Congo war. Swing is quoted as saying "The interference in internal affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not acceptable. We have condemned the military interference from outside countries like Rwanda and Uganda." Swing said further that the United States supports efforts to find peace by the Organization of African Unity and the UN.
NCN believes this may be the beginning of a major American peace initiative in the DR Congo war. Readers will recall that in early October, NCN learned from a senior Clinton administration official that the United States was very active in the diplomatic background with regard to the DR Congo war and would announce a major initiative soon. This official understandably declined to elaborate, but he is a highly credible personality and would not have mentioned this initiative without it having substance.
The remarks from the American ambassador lack detail but they are powerful and they may well mark the beginning of a public exercise to start a peace process in the Congo. This is one of the first public criticisms of Rwandan and Ugandan intervention from the United States. It is powerful because the U.S. is a close friend with both countries. In addition, Uganda has said its forces are in the Congo not to aid the rebels but rather to secure Ugandan borders; Rwanda still refuses to acknowledge its forces are in the Congo, even though everyone knows they are. the ambassador's statement is also powerful because up until now, the Western powers having veto authority in the UN Security Council have been reluctant to identify Rwanda and Uganda by name in their condemnations, instead simply saying foreign troops must leave and foreign interventions are not welcome. That taboo has now been broken. The United States has now pinpointed Uganda and Rwanda and condemned their interventions.
The DR Congo's President Kabila has aggressively criticized the international community for failing to recognize that Ugandan and Rwandan military forces were in the DR Congo without the approval of the Government of the DR Congo. So, on the surface, it would appear that the United States has given Mr. Kabila, and the Congolese people, something that was very important to him: an acknowledgement that there was an invasion.
In NCN's editorial view, this move by the United States might now set the stage for an orderly withdrawal of Ugandan and Rwandan military forces from the DR Congo. That in turn could allow Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia to withdraw and could also force the withdrawal of Sudanese and Chadian forces.
Such withdrawals, in NCN's view, could then set the stage for at least two more very important --- perhaps most important --- actions:
The Kabila government might agree to some kind of proposal for insertion of an international peacekeeping force to provide security to the nation, its people, and its neighbors until the Congolese government could reconstitute its own military and assign it the task of defending the country's borders and maintaining security.
The Kabila government might agree to some kind of international formula for dealing with its domestic political crisis. It is critical to understand here that withdrawal of Rwandan and Ugandan military forces would leave over 30,000 rebellious Congolese army rebels in place and on the move westward and southward, fully armed, well-supplied, and supposedly committed to supporting a series of progressive political objectives. Those political objectives have largely been promulgated by the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD), which is largely led and financed by former Mobutu loyalists with riches stolen from the former Zaire. The Kabila government has adamantly refused to negotiate with the RCD, for this and many other reasons. The Kabila government has been able to make this position stick because it has been able to keep the focus of the Congolese people on the Rwandan and Ugandan military interventions. The Congolese people might not like Kabila, but they hold enormous contempt toward the Rwandans and Ugandans. That contempt has tended to obscure the political dissent within the country. Removal of the Rwandan and Ugandan forces would allow the Congolese people to move away from their contempt toward each and focus instead on their own domestic turmoil. NCN believes that in turn would force Kabila to deal with the domestic situation as a matter of some urgency, given that over 30,000 rebellions soldiers of the Army of Congo were still out in the field, holding over a third of the country, and moving to take two very important provinces, Kasai and Katanga. The Kabila government has already indicated some willingness to participate in an international, regional conference to address the domestic political issues. NCN has been advised by people close to the problem that this would be a savvy political move by Mr. Kabila, because it would allow him to meet with many domestic political groups at the table, of which the RCD would only be one. That, in turn, would allow Mr. Kabila and his regional allies to avoid the stigma of having to meet one-on-one with the RCD and would satisfy domestic and international demands that the Government of the DR Congo become more inclusive through working with a broad cross-section of civil society.
Only time will tell whether this kind of scenario might unfold, and, if it were to unfold, whether the DR Congo's ship could finally be righted. For the moment, NCN sees this evolution as encouraging.
Extrapolating toward the future, with a view toward grasping the enormous positive possibilities, a DR Congo righting its ship combined with a Nigeria righting its ship combined with an Angola that might right its ship would set a series of economic events in motion that could catapult the African continent to the forefront of international financial investment right at a time when investors are shying away from Asia and Latin America.
Regards |
