There are elements within Yoweri Museveni's NRM and and Paul Kagame's Rwanda
Patriotic Front who have and will continue to created political instability in DRC.
This fact cannot be over emphasised. Anybody who is interested and is following the
politics of the great Lakes Region in general and DRC in particular must bear this
fact in mind.
Political observers believe that both Yoweri Museven and Paul Kagame stand
enormously in economic terms ffrom istablity in DRC Congo.
MK
Grave Humanitarian Crisis Worsening In Eastern Congo, Where 3.5m Have Already Perished
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allAfrica.com
July 23, 2004
Posted to the web July 23, 2004
Jill Sudhoff-Guerin
Washington, DC
Violence continues in eastern Congo, where rebel groups have clashed with United
Nations peacekeepers and government forces, in violation of the peace accords signed
in 2003, Rep. Ed Royce (R-California) said Thursday at a House Subcommittee on Africa
hearing.
The peace pact was based on the Lusaka Agreement of 1999, which called for
inter-Congolese political negotiations, disarming of Rwandan Hutu rebels present in
the Congo and normalization of border security.
"This turmoil has perpetuated the gravest humanitarian conditions that have existed
since the Rwandan genocide erupted ten years ago," Royce said. "An estimated 3.5
million Congolese, mainly in the east, have perished over the last six or so years due
to war-related starvation and disease."
Rwanda's involvement in Bukavu, eastern Congo, through supporting rebel forces in the
region, threatens the possibility for peace, Royce said. The United Nations released a
report Thursday citing evidence that Rwanda has broken the arms embargo by supplying
rebels with arms and munitions.
Learned Dees, senior program officer for Africa at the National Endowment for
Democracy, called the humanitarian failure in the Congo similar to the crisis in
Darfur, Sudan. "In humanitarian terms, over the long term, Congo represents a greater
humanitarian crisis because more people have been displaced, more people have been
killed, and you have the potential of reaching another level of violence in the
Congo," he said.
The United States is working closely with the United Nations and allies in the region
to halt the violence, said Constance Berry Newman, assistant secretary of State for
African Affairs. Newman reported on the progress of MONUC, the UN Mission for the
Congo peacekeeping force. "MONUC is one of the largest UN peacekeeping operations in
existence, but it is not a large force when one considers that the DRC is equal in
size to the United States east of the Mississippi," she said.
Gareth Evans, International Crisis Group's president, called for the doubling of
MONUC's troops, improved technical and intelligence capacity, and a broader mandate in
order to enhance MONUC's capability.
Newman said MONUC's mandate has been expanded to include assisting the transitional
government in the DRC, working towards disarming and demobilizing the Rwandan Hutu
rebels in the DRC and assisting in preparations for elections that were scheduled for
2005. The recent violence has called into question the government's ability to run the
scheduled elections successfully.
The occupation of Bukavu has caused a break in humanitarian efforts in eastern Congo,
Newman said, but "with the national army now in control of Bukavu, most relief workers
have returned and services have resumed."
Rep. Donald Payne (D-New Jersey) questioned Newman's testimony that, "the situation in
the DRC remains very serious, but the essential requisites for a peaceful solution are
in place." With illegal uranium mining, clear-cutting of tropical forests, and the
outright violation of the peace accords by the Rwandans, Payne said that the situation
seemed much less hopeful than Newman's testimony suggested. "We need solutions," he
said.
Payne and Royce identified Rwanda as having violated the peace accords in order to get
access to the DRC's natural wealth. "This conflict is driven by natural resource
exploitation," Royce said. "U.N. and other reports have identified Rwanda and other
countries as maintaining considerable illicit commercial interests in the DRC. What
are the U.S. and the U.N. doing to deter this scramble for resources?'
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Newman said the U.S. was making every effort to hold parties accountable. "Bad
behavior is not going to be rewarded by the international community, she said. "People
will express strong action against the violation of the peace agreement."
"The transition in the DRC is not irreversible, and recent events have shown how
easily the process can be derailed, the consequences of which should be apparent to
anyone who has follwed the history of the last 10 years in the Great Lakes region of
Africa," says Evan. "It is in the interest of the United States to promote peace and
stability in Africa, but this cannot be achieved if there is continued conflict and
instability in the heart of the continent."
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