** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **

The situation in the DRC is a serious cause for concern. I still hold 
onto the premise that unless Africans begin to seek long-lasting 
solutions to their own problems in earnest, no amount of EXTERNAL 
goodwill will do the trick. In the case of the DRC, much of the havoc 
has been fueled by the country's neighbors who find much to reap from 
the instability in the country. These countries must be made, through 
SOUTH-SOUTH dialogue and international pressure, to stop asphyxiating a 
sister country.

Most importantly, citizens of the DRC must leave no stone unturned in 
their fight against endemic corruption and callous democratic 
dictatorship.

[PETER VAKUNTA]

----- Original Message -----
From: ALIKO SONGOLO <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, June 30, 2005 9:30 am
Subject: Meanwhile  in the  D. R. Congo

> ** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
> 
> Back to reality. The article below appeared in the same issue of 
> IHT as
> the one by Niall FitzGerald that I sent a few minutes ago on 
> balance in
> reporting. By the way, today is the 45th anniversary of Congo's
> independence.
> 
> 
> Treating the sickness at the heart of Africa
> By Chris Patten International Herald Tribune
> 
> THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2005
> 
> LONDON With Africa at the top of the agenda at the Group of 8 summit
> meeting next month, world leaders would do well to focus on Congo, the
> sick heart of the continent, which combines all of Africa's worst
> problems in their most extreme form. Two small European Union efforts
> already in train could show the way.
> 
> From war to disease to poverty to bad governance, Congo is a prime
> example of all of Africa's nightmares. Of these, war is the most
> important to understanding Congo. Resolving the ongoing conflict is
> critical not only for rescuing Congo's 58 million people but also for
> stabilizing central Africa and helping it escape the other horrors.
> 
> The scale of devastation in Congo over recent years is staggering. 
> Since1998, an estimated 3.8 million people have died as a result 
> of a civil
> war abetted by eight of the country's neighbors. Such a figure
> overwhelms the imagination; it is probably the most deadly 
> conflict on
> earth since World War II.
> 
> A peace deal was signed in 2002, but the transitional government
> established in Kinshasa the following year has been at best
> dysfunctional and at worst a stalling tactic foreshadowing renewed 
> war.Its principle figures are former warlords who maintain their own
> militias and continue to compete with one another for Congo's rich
> natural resources.
> 
> Elections had been planned for June 30, but they have been delayed;
> those who have relied on guns appear to feel their positions 
> threatenedby the ballot box. Key elements of security reform, 
> including the
> formation of an integrated national army, have been small, slow and
> uncoordinated, and disarmament and the demobilization of militias have
> barely started.
> 
> That the world tolerates this instability in the heart of Africa 
> is bad
> enough; that we do so while the international community foots half of
> Kinshasa's budget is unacceptable. Much more outside pressure can and
> should be brought to bear to get Congo's transition to peace back 
> on track.
> 
> The European Commission has been the largest single donor to 
> Congo, with
> more than €585 million, or $705 million, pledged since 2002. After the
> 2003 Artemis military intervention in Ituri, a French-led EU mission
> that brought a degree of security to that eastern Congolese district,
> the EU has been intensifying its efforts to facilitate a successful
> transition in Congo with two new missions.
> 
> The first civilian mission, Eupol Kinshasa, began in April and 
> aims to
> provide advice to the Integrated Police Unit under Congolese 
> command. A
> second EU mission, Eusec R.D. Congo, which began on June 8, is a
> military initiative to advise and assist the Congolese authorities in
> charge of security while promoting policies compatible with human 
> rightsand democratic standards.
> 
> These small missions will no doubt provide excellent guidance to 
> the key
> government offices they are attached to, but they should be seen 
> as only
> a first step in a much deeper push for the demobilization of 
> combatantsand wider security reform.
> 
> One key move, which is needed urgently, would be to bring together 
> underone body the various programs for security sector assistance and
> coordinate and increase their activities. Right now, for example, army
> integration projects are taking place under a variety of agencies:
> Angola, Belgium, South Africa and the UN mission in the Congo, 
> known as
> Monuc, are all involved, often without any coordination.
> 
> Another crucial issue is how to better manage the financing of 
> securityreform. Every month, $10 million leaves government coffers 
> to pay
> soldiers to serve in an integrated army. Almost none of this 
> reaches its
> destination, prompting pillaging and abuses across the country. Eusec,
> together with Monuc, should be well placed to ensure more transparency
> in future as it is to act as the focal point for dispersing wages and
> food supplies to the brigades that will be deployed to keep order 
> duringthe election.
> 
> More broadly, of course, Congo simply needs more international
> attention. While talk of debt relief and poverty reduction has swirled
> around the impending G-8 summit, far less attention seems to have been
> given to the violent conflicts that underlie some of Africa's most
> intractable problems. But without a concerted push to bring 
> Congo's long
> war to a peaceful conclusion, every other effort the international
> community attempts in central Africa will be at risk.
> 
> (Lord Patten of Barnes, a former European Commissioner for external
> relations, is chairman of the International Crisis Group.)
> 
> AS
> 
> Aliko SONGOLO <[log in to unmask]>
> Professor 
> *****************************
> - Dept. of French & Italian
> - Dept. of African Languages & Literature
> Van Hise Hall
> University of Wisconsin
> 1220 Linden Drive
> Madison, WI  53706 
>   Fr&It 608-262-5937,-3941,265-3892(fax) 
>   AL&L  608-263-3891,2-2487,265-4151(fax)
> ***************************
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