ugnet_: DRC

[Mulindwa Edward]

Washington, Nov. 20, 2002 - To review of the Congo's sorry political history since 1960 demonstrate why the transitional government will be incapable of performing its duties without international supervision and assistance. On the 30th of April 2001 the Washington Post wrote: "Death toll in Congo war may approach 3 million." This is especially true in the eastern part of the Congo where the population is suffering under a harsh occupation by the armies of Rwanda and Uganda surpassing even the brutalities of the Serbs in Bosnia. The DRC is the victim of a disastrous aggression from Rwanda and Uganda. The military invasion coupled with a repressive occupation has inflicted great pain on the people of the Congo. The aggressors have destroyed civil society, ruined the economy, and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people who stood defenceless in their opposition to foreign occupiers. As far as the international community's view of the Congo is concerned, no one would disagree that the DRC's political and economic image is negative and has been badly damaged by the actions of the entire strata of incompetent political leaders. In fact, only UN supervision can help begin to turn tide toward meaningful political reform. While forty years of independence is a very long time, it is regrettably not sufficient to allow for a lasting peace in DR Congo. One of the threshold questions is how to restore confidence and hope among the Congolese people? CIDES believes that the time is comes to stop the war and to invite the Congolese together around the table, unfortunately, the inter-Congolese dialogue can�t help to design a new political legal framework that will be far superior to the chaos of the past. Can we fail to notice that the inter-Congolse who is hardly guarantee the political and economic stability in DRC can bring up sad political experiences that so disordered the country in the past? In this way the Congolese promise for the future will be unlikely the chaos ameliorated and a negative spin on the whole region. The original sin to all Congolese politician groups is that they have no clear political or economic agenda for the establishment of real political and economic stability in the DRC. The Kabila's government seeking to legitimise its power, despite their catastrophic mismanagement may still be irreparably damaged by dictatorship mentality which discourages legitimate investment capital. The Mobutists, both within the rebellion and the traditional political opposition wishing to return to power through the inter-Congolese dialogue after having economically looted the country during the past regime more than three decades (1965-1997). What exactly do we propose now? The entire operation of the transition should be under the overall supervision of a United Nations Administrator appointed by the Secretary General. A good example of such a successful operation was the UN supervision of the transition in Namibia from January 1988 to March 1990. Only the UN supervisor and his staff can make sure that the elections and overall transition are done in a neutral manner. It has an experienced election support division includes registration of voters, distribution of equipment and training of voting officials. The priority at this stage is to democratically ensure swift exit of the current un-elected regime, to recognise the integral nature of the region and neighbouring governments. CIDES who understand the need to establish a stable legal infrastructure, to create a climate for economic growth and to ensure the protection of investment assets, believes that the most appropriate role for the UN continues to be best aimed at assisting the DRC in designing and bringing to fruition a new democratic political organisation. African Politics        The Mulindwas communication group "With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"