The Congo War and peacekeeping efforts

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world. With a population of over 71 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the eighteenth most populous nation in the world, and the fourth most populous nation in Africa, as well as the most populous officially Francophone country. The country is divided into 10 provinces and one city-province (Kinshasa). Although citizens of the DRC are among the poorest in the world, having the second lowest nominal GDP per capita, the Democratic Republic of Congo is widely considered to be the richest country in the world regarding natural resources; its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of US$ 24 trillion. The economy of the second largest country in Africa relies heavily on mining. The Congo has 70% of the worlds coltan, and more than 30% of the worlds diamond reserves, also being the worlds largest producer of cobalt ore. Being an ethnically rich(or divided) region, as many as 250 ethnic groups have been identified and named. The most numerous people are the Kongo, Luba, and Mongo. About 600,000 Pygmies are the aboriginal people of the DR Congo. Although several hundred local languages and dialects are spoken, the linguistic variety is bridged both by widespread use of French(the official language) and intermediary languages such as Kongo, Tshiluba, Swahili, and Lingala. As far as religion is concerned, Christianity is the majority religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, followed by about 96% of the population. Kimbanguism was seen as a threat to the colonial regime and was banned by the Belgians. Kimbanguism, officially "the church of Christ on Earth by the prophet Simon Kimbangu", now has about three million members, primarily among the Bakongo of Bas-Congo and Kinshasa. Islam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo accounts for 1.5% of the population. The rest follow traditional beliefs, syncretic sects or Hinduism. Islam was introduced and mainly spread by Arab traders/merchants.

There are an estimated total of 242 languages spoken in the country. Out of these, only four have the status of national languages: Kikongo (Kituba), Lingala, Tshiluba and Swahili (most spoken in the DRC). The Second Congo War, also known as Coltan War and the Great War of Africa, began in August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly called Zaire), and officially ended in July 2003 when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power, however, hostilities continue to this day. The war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the widest interstate war in modern African history. Centered mainly in eastern Congo, it involved 9 African nations and directly affected the lives of over 50million Congolese. The International Rescue Committee said that between August 1998 and April 2004 (when a bulk of the fighting occurred) some 3.8 million people died in the DRC. Most of these deaths were due to starvation or disease that resulted from the war, not from actual fighting. Millions more had become internally displaced or had sought asylum in neighboring countries. Congo's history often seems like an uninterrupted tale of woe. After decades of often brutal foreign rule, first as the private possession of King Leopold II of Belgium and then as a Belgian colony, Congo won its independence in 1960. But within months its first elected Prime Minister had been killed by Belgium- and U.S.-backed opponents because of his growing ties to the Soviet Union, an assassination that eventually opened the way for army general Mobutu Sese Seko to grab power. A U.S. favorite during the cold war, Mobutu presided over one of the most corrupt regimes in African history, siphoning off billions from state-owned companies and allowing most of the country to languish. By 1996, tensions from the neighbouring Rwandan Civil War and Rwandan Genocide had spilled over to Zaire. Rwandan Hutu militia forces (Interahamwe), who had fled Rwanda following the ascension of a Tutsi-led government, had been using Hutu refugees camps in eastern Zaire as a basis for incursion against Rwanda. These Hutu militia forces soon allied with the Zairian armed forces to launch a campaign against Congolese ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire.

In turn, a coalition of Rwandan and Ugandan armies invaded Zaire under the cover of a small group of Tutsi militia to fight the Hutu militia, overthrow the government of Mobutu, and ultimately control the mineral resources of Zaire. They were soon joined by various Zairean politicians, who had been unsuccessfully opposing the dictatorship of Mobutu for many years, and now saw an opportunity for them in the invasion of Zaire by two of the region's strongest military forces. This new expanded coalition of two foreign armies and some longtime opposition figures, led by Laurent-Dsir Kabila, became known as the Alliance des Forces Dmocratiques pour la Libration du CongoZare. They were seeking the broader goal of ousting Mobutu and controlling his country's wealth. In May 1997, Mobutu fled the country and Kabila marched into Kinshasa, naming himself president and reverting the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A few months later, President Laurent-Dsir Kabila thanked all the foreign military forces that helped him to overthrow Mobutu, and asked them to return back to their countries because he was very fearful and concerned that the Rwandan military officers who were running his army were plotting a coup d'tat against him in order to give the presidency to a Tutsi who would report directly to the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame. This move was not well received by the Rwandan and Ugandan governments, who wanted to control their big neighbour. Consequently, Rwandan troops in DRC retreated to Goma and launched a new militia group or rebel movement called the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie, led by Tutsis, to fight against their former ally, President Laurent-Dsir Kabila. To counterbalance the power and influence of Rwanda in DRC, the Ugandan troops instigated the creation of another rebel movement called the Movement for the Liberation of Congo, led by the Congolese warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, son of Congolese billionaire Bemba Saolona. The two rebel movements started the second war by attacking the DRC's still fragile army in 1998, backed by Rwandan and Ugandan troops. Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia became involved militarily on the side of the government to defend a fellow SADC member. Kabila was assassinated in 2001 and was succeeded by his son Joseph, who upon taking office called for multilateral peace talks to end the war. In February 2001 a peace deal was brokered between Kabila, Rwanda

and Uganda, leading to the apparent withdrawal of foreign troops. UN peacekeepers, MONUC, arrived in April 2001. The conflict was reignited in January 2002 by ethnic clashes in the northeast, and both Uganda and Rwanda then halted their withdrawal and sent in more troops. Talks between Kabila and the rebel leaders led to the signing of a peace accord in which Kabila would share power with former rebels. By June 2003 all foreign armies except those of Rwanda had pulled out of Congo. Much of the conflict was focused on gaining control of substantial natural resources in the country, including diamonds, copper, zinc, and coltan. DR Congo had a transitional government until the election was over. A constitution was approved by voters, and on 30 July 2006 the Congo held its first multi-party elections since independence in 1960. After this Joseph Kabila took 45% of the votes and his opponent, Jean-Pierre Bemba took 20%. The disputed results of this election turned into an all-out battle between the supporters of the two parties in the streets of the capital, Kinshasa, from 2022 August 2006 . Sixteen people died before police and the UN mission MONUC took control of the city. A new election was held on 29 October 2006, which Kabila won with 70% of the vote. Bemba made multiple public statements saying the election had "irregularities," despite the fact that every neutral observer praised the elections. On 6 December 2006 the Transitional Government came to an end as Joseph Kabila was sworn in as President. The fragility of the state government has allowed continued conflict and human rights abuses. In the ongoing Kivu conflict, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda continues to threaten the Rwandan border and the Banyamulenge; Rwanda supports RCD-Goma rebels against Kinshasa; a rebel offensive at the end of October 2008 caused a refugee crisis in Ituri, where MONUC has proved unable to contain the numerous militia and groups driving the Ituri conflict. In the northeast, Joseph Kony's LRA moved from their original bases in Uganda (where they have fought a 20-year rebellion) and South Sudan to DR Congo in 2005 and set up camps in the Garamba National Park. In northern Katanga, the Mai-Mai created by Laurent Kabila slipped out of the control of Kinshasa. The war is the world's deadliest conflict since World War II, killing an estimate of 5.4 million people.

Fighting on the Rwandan border of eastern Congo flared throughout 2008, as a rebel movement led by General Laurent Nkunda routed Congolese government forces in a self-proclaimed effort to protect the home territory of ethnic Tutsis in Congo. The worlds largest U.N. peacekeeping operation, armed with a mandate to protect civilians with force if necessary, failed to end a steady stream of atrocities reportedly perpetrated against the population by rebels, government troops and homegrown militias known as the Mai Mai. Hundreds of thousands were displaced from their homes into refugee camps. In January 2009, General Nkunda was arrested. Many of his rebel followers agreed to join government forces. Congo and Rwanda embarked on an unprecedented joint military operation to clear the eastern region of long entrenched fighters. But experienced observers note that all the years of cross-border meddling and intrigue make it extremely difficult to tell whether the new Rwanda-Congo relationship represents genuine and lasting change. According to the New York times, despite more than 10 years of experience and billions of dollars, the peacekeeping force still seems to be failing at its most elemental task: protecting civilians. The United Nations blue-helmets are considered the last line of defense in eastern Congo, given that the nations own army has a long history of abuses, that the police are often invisible and that the hills are teeming with rebels. But many critics contend that nowhere else in the world has the United Nations invested so much and accomplished so little. On June 28 this year, The UN Security Council votes to extend the mandate of the 19,000-member UN peacekeeping force in Congo for another year. A letter from Alain Le Roy, The UN Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations writes to the New York Times, on October 5, 2010: United Nations peacekeepers are the only force in the Democratic Republic of Congo that prioritizes the protection of millions of civilians at risk. Horrific acts of violence have been endemic for decades in

Congo. The expectations on the blue helmets are often unrealistic given our limited resources. The United Nations peacekeeping mission has pioneered a number of measures to protect civilians. Its troops are deployed in more than 70 small bases in remote and vulnerable areas. The mission created mixed civilian and military protection teams to better understand threats and to build closer links with communities. It is also using technology to strengthen early warning systems. Protecting civilians in Congo requires effective security forces and rule-of-law institutions. The Congolese security forces bear primary responsibility for the populations safety, but the international community must enhance its collaborative efforts while addressing underlying problems like a culture of impunity and illegal exploitation of resources.() Since 1999, about US$ 8.73 billion have been spent to fund the UN peacekeeping effort in DRC. More than thirty nations have contributed military and police personnel for peacekeeping effort, with India being the single largest contributor. The headquarters of the mission are in Kinshasa, DRC. The mission views the DRC as consisting of 6 sectors, each with its own staff headquarters. In 2005-6 the Eastern Division however was formed at Kisangani and took over brigades in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri, along with two or three of the Sector Headquarters. As of 31 August 2011 MONUSCO(United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) forces included 19,084 uniformed personnel, out of which 16,998 were military personnel, 743 were military observers and 1,343 were police (including formed units). In addition the forces included 983 international civilian personnel, 2,828 local civilian staff and 600 UN volunteers. Congo represents the promise of Africa as much as its misery: its fertile fields and tropical forests cover an area bigger than California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon and Texas combined. Its soils are packed with diamonds, gold, copper, tantalum (known locally as coltan and used in electronic devices such as cell phones and laptop computers)

and uranium. Yet because Congo is so rich in resources, its problems, when left to fester, tend to suck its neighbors into a vortex of exploitation and chaos. Congo's warring parties say they are abiding by a peace deal, monitored by U.N. troops. But the dying continues. Congo provides tragic proof that in some places peace and war can look a lot alike. A tragedy that never seems to end, the Congo war has slowly stopped being portrayed in local and international media. People are slowly forgetting and moving on with their lives, as they do after each big scandal/large event. Of course, horrible and unthinkable things still take place there, but the general media has long since lost interest of exploitation for this topic as with each article being written it becomes more and more obvious of the failure humankind has suffered as whole and what little can be done at this time to help our brothers in need. Women, children and even men are raped daily and armed conflict continues. It is no longer catalogued as a warzone perhaps, but it is still considered unsafe to travel there and the area will, for a long time, not be a touristic destination. The non-stop conflict makes it hard for even the most brave reporters and humanitarian companies to reach those in need, as the Congo war is slowly drifting away from our memories and its place is taken by our day-to-day worries. The presence of the U.N.s armed troops seem to do little good at times on keeping the rebel forces at bay, but they are doing the best they can. The media is still there to remind us from time to time of their failure in resolving the conflict but few of them mention the entire history of the area and how long it has been going on, the implications of everything going on. As many human tragedies, the Congo war has been fully exploited as the newspaper and television have sensationalized the human suffering for their own gain. They painted pretty pictures of dirt, blood and tears using catchy soapy music to entertain us and show us a glimpse of how our world is such a terribly scary place, how our little corner seems so safe in comparison to their pain, only to let it be forgotten the next day as if nothing ever happened and it was just a bad dream.

As many wise men say, change comes from within. From within ourselves, within the heart of a nation, from the depths of every single individual. In my personal opinion. war comes and goes, yet its effects and aftermath linger for decades. Nothing is going to change until humankind realizes that its fighting the wrong enemy, until each single person learns to be a bit less bitter and filled with envy and starts being a lot more loving and caring to the needs of its brethren. Armed forces dont stop wars, they merely attempt to keep it in check. Love, compassion and empathy stop wars. They do not come easy, they cant be recruited like armies, have no use being advertised and cant be funded by the government; the only way we can grow them is by looking into our childrens eyes and wishing to give them a better world to live in.

Bibliography: http://www.economist.com/node/1213296?story_id=1213296 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/con gothedemocraticrepublicof/index.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/opinion/l07congo.html?ref=department ofpeacekeepingoperations http://www.amnesty.org