TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

World Aims To Keep Fight Within Borders

ADVERTISEMENT

The New York Times

Published: November 3, 2008

GOMA, Congo - When Congo shakes, Africa trembles.

This vast linchpin of a country at the green heart of the continent, covering 905,000 square miles and bordering nine nations, never goes down alone.

When the Congolese state began to collapse in 1996, it set off a regional war. When it imploded again in 1998, it dragged in armies from a half-dozen other African countries. The two wars and the mayhem since have killed possibly 5 million people, a death toll that human rights groups say is the worst related to any conflict since World War II.

The worry now is that Congo is on the brink again, with neighbors poised to jump in, which is why the relatively small-scale bush fighting last week attracted some of the most intense diplomatic activity Congo has seen in years. The French foreign minister, the British foreign minister, top U.N. diplomats and the State Department's highest official for Africa all jetted to the decrepit but important lakeside city of Goma.

The hills around Goma are now firmly in rebel hands after fighters routed the Congolese army late last month, and if it had not been for an eleventh-hour cease-fire declared by the rebels, Goma itself would be theirs.

The rebel victory laid bare the fecklessness of the Congolese government, two years after the most expensive, foreign-financed election in African history, and despite the muscle of the largest U.N. peacekeeping mission, with 17,000 troops in the country.

Perhaps even more alarming was the performance of that mission. Not only were peacekeepers unable to stop the rebels' advance, but they were unable to protect civilians, which is their mandate.

On Wednesday night, as the rebels encircled Goma, rogue government soldiers plundered, raped and killed in their retreat from the town. This same predatory behavior happened in the 1990s, when Congo was in a similar state of simmering dysfunction.

The European Union is mulling over the idea of sending more troops. But right now, the emphasis seems to be on forging a durable political settlement with the rebels.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT