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Ranga Mataire, Group Political Editor
In his remarks to the media on Wednesday at Zimbabwe’s State House in Harare, SADC Chairperson, President Mnangagwa made it clear that it was vital for the two regional blocs (SADC/EAC) to find ways of capacitating the DRC government to effectively govern its vast territory.
The two regional blocs are holding a historic joint Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government in Tanzania tomorrow, which was described by SADC’s Secretariat head of communications and public relations Ms Barbra Lopi as the first of its kind convened specifically to deal with the security situation in DRC.
As the SADC chair, President Mnangagwa said the first step in finding lasting peace and security in the DRC was to ensure that the cental government gained “full control of the vast country.”
“Currently, you have various authorities speaking differently in the same country…I do not think that is the best to have in a sovereign country. So as we meet as both SADC and the East African Community, we will probe that (question) and see whether it is possible to make sure there is one voice in the country,” President Mnangagwa said, adding that he was confident all parties to the conflict will be able to attend the crucial summit.
President Mnangagwa’s remarks are informed by the fact that for a long time since the outbreak of the Second Congo War in eastern DRC in 1998, there has not been a strong central government presence and this has significantly contributed to the ongoing security and instability.
The absence of strong central government administrative structures has led to the emergence of various armed groups that operate with relative autonomy fuelling conflicts over resources and political power, leading to widespread displacement and humanitarian crisis.
With limited government control, local militias and rebel groups have been able to easily exploit power vacuums by engaging in violence and extortion without significant repercussions.
The eastern DRC is rich in minerals like gold and coltan, which armed groups and mining companies often exploit to fund their activities, further exacerbating conflict dynamics. Without a robust security presence from central government, local communities are left vulnerable to attacks and have limited means to seek justice.
Historic ethnic tensions and historical grievances in the region are further amplified by the lack of effective state governance, leading to cycles of violence.
The situation has been compounded by the fact that neighbouring countries have their own genuine security concerns given the volatility of eastern DRC and some have resorted to supporting armed groups, further complicating the situation and hindering peace efforts.
Thus, in a paper titled “Peace, Security, and Governance in the Great Lakes Region”, a 2003 Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region, Dr Dorina A. Bekoe advances the view that given the regionalisation of the DRC conflict, solutions should be able to address the sources of political and social instability of neighbouring states.
Dr Bekoe shares President Mnangagwa’s views of capacitating central government and stemming the proliferation of refugees saying; “The sub-region’s states and international community should focus on stemming the proliferation of refugees and internally displaced people, illicit trade in precious minerals and the endemic poverty in the region.”
In Dr Bekoe’s view, regionalised conflicts are mainly characterised by a complex interaction between localised rebellion, a clash of interests among countries of the region, and a weakened capacity or will of international actors to avert humanitarian crises- as what happened in the Great Lakes region, culminating with the war in DRC.
“The decade of violence in the Great Lakes region began with the 1993 civil war in Burundi, which was followed by the 1994 Rwandan genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus,” says Dr Bekoe, further asserting that both conflicts resulted in large numbers of refugee flows into neighbouring Zaire (now DRC).
The DRC has Tutsis and Hutus residing in significant numbers. Rwanda, citing the need not only to protect its own citizens from Hutus, but also to protect Tutsi-Congolese, launched incursions into eastern DRC in 1996.
In the beginning of the war, Rwanda and Uganda formed an alliance with the Congolese government but this Kampala-Kinshasa-Kigali alliance soon unravelled when Uganda and Rwanda cited a number of security concerns.
At the time, Uganda insisted that it needed to stop the Lord Resistance Army’s attacks from eastern DRC while on the other hand Rwanda invoked the right to “self-defence” against cross border incursions into its territory by DRC-based Hutu rebels.
In response to the growing hostilities, Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe intervened militarily on the basis of SADC’s Mutual Defence Pact, which was created in 2003 and emphasises collective self-defence and regional peace and security.
Chad also provided a small number of troops at the DRC government’s request and Libya provided some funding.
The rational for intervention by the neighbouring states became self-enforcing and the localised conflicts became regional.
As such, the conflicts within and between the countries of the Great Lakes ultimately called for regionally-based and targeted solutions, along with the cooperation of relevant neighbouring states.
Despite the existence of peace agreements among the DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda, instability in the region has continued with Rwanda not completely withdrawing its personnel from the eastern part of the DRC.
Previous agreements that sought to terminate war and renounce violence by national actors have not yielded much because of lingering tensions between local antagonists and neighbouring states.
However, what is most encouraging in the current initiatives to bring peace in DRC is the SADC/EAC common resolve to have all foreign forces vacating the eastern region.
Attention must be undertaken to consider the underlying issue of continued presence of Hutu genocidaires in eastern DRC.
The absence of robust institutions of good governance and rule of law, exacerbated by some sections’ refusal to acknowledge acts of genocide that took place in Burundi way back in 1972 and eastern DRC in 1998- all contribute to a lack of trust between armed opposition groups and incumbent leadership are all recipes for political instability.
Sustainable peace and security can only be achieved through a paradigm shift in internal and international politics as being proposed by SADC and EAC.
Local peace imperatives must prevail over geopolitical interests of foreign powers and peaceful political change in the Great Lakes region need to be understood as a critical strategy for national regional security architecture.
A chronology of key events in the history of the DRC
July 1960: Congolese army mutinies; Moise Tshombe declares Katanga independent; Belgian troops sent in ostensibly to protect Belgian citizens and mining interests; UN Security Council votes to send in troops to help establish order, but the troops are not allowed to intervene in internal affairs.
February 1961: Patrice Lumumba murdered, reportedly with US and Belgian complicity.
1965: Army chief Joseph Mobutu seizes power.
1971: Joseph Mobutu renames the country Zaire and himself Mobutu Sese Seko; Katanga becomes Shaba and the river Congo becomes the river Zaire.
1991: Following riots in Kinshasa by unpaid soldiers, President Mobutu agrees to a coalition government with opposition leaders, but retains control of the security apparatus and important ministries.
1996-97: Tutsi rebels capture much of eastern Zaire while President Mobutu is abroad for medical treatment.
May 1997: Tutsi and other anti-Mobutu rebels, aided principally by Rwanda, capture the capital, Kinshasa; Zaire is renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo; Laurent-Desire Kabila installed as president.
August 1988: Rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda rise up against Mr Kabila and advance on Kinshasa.
January 2001: President Laurent Kabila is shot dead by a bodyguard. Joseph Kabila succeeds his father.
July 2002: Presidents of DR Congo and Rwanda sign a peace deal under which Rwanda will withdraw troops from the east and DR Congo will disarm and arrest Rwandan Hutu gunmen blamed for the killing of the Tutsi minority in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
June 2003: President Kabila names a transitional government to lead until elections in two years time. Leaders of main former rebel groups are sworn in as vice-presidents in July.
February 2006: New constitution comes into force; new national flag is adopted.
November 2006: Joseph Kabila is declared winner of October’s run-off presidential election. The poll has the general approval of international monitors.
October 2008: Rebel forces capture major army base of Rumangabo; the Congolese government accuses Rwanda of backing Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, a claim Rwanda denies.
November 2011: Presidential and parliamentary elections. Mr Kabila gains another term. The vote is criticised abroad and the opposition disputes the result.
November 2016: A political deal signed between President Kabila’s ruling coalition and the opposition to delay the presidential election until 2018 sees Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo and his cabinet resign, paving the way for a new cabinet to include opposition figures.
December 2017: DRC is experiencing a “mega-crisis”, with conflict having forced 1,7 million people to flee their homes during the year, aid agencies say.
March 2018: Main opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress chooses Felix Tshisekedi as its candidate for the December presidential election.
January 2019: Officials declare opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi the winner of December’s presidential election, prompting protests from rival opposition candidate Martin Fayulu of a deal with the government, whose candidate Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary came third. – BBC.com
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter