Congo Peace Process

Next month, France is due to present a draft of a new resolution on the UN mandate for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the UN Security Council.

Many observers are already asking how the recent violence in Mbandaka in the northwestern province of Equateur, where rebels seized an airport and killed 13 people, will affect the future of the UN's involvement. With more than 20,000 troops, the UN mission (MONUC) is the largest and most expensive on the planet.

MONUC arrived in DRC in 1999 when what is now known as the Second Congo War involved seven other African countries: Zimbabwe, Angola, Chad, Namibia, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda. The countries supported opposing sides - Laurent Kabila's government or rebel groups in eastern Congo - for different reasons.

Angola supported Kabila because he defeated Mobutu Sese Seko, who had helped Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola's civil war which spanned over two decades. On the other hand, Rwanda helped the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) to support Tutsis in DRC against Hutu militias. But Rwanda, much like Uganda, has been part of the war also to exploit natural resources - especially diamonds - in eastern Congo.

More than 5 million people have died since 1998 as a result of the conflict. And those who have not died directly continue to die from malnutrition or preventable diseases like cholera while thousands of women, especially in the Kivu region, have been raped and many infected with HIV.

MONUC and Congolese Army not on the same page

MONUC was sent to strengthen the Congolese national forces and protect the population. But many feel that it has not helped. In fact, in "Killings in Kiwanja: The UN's inability to protect civilians," Human Rights Watch reports that MONUC has failed to protect the population. It says that MONUC's failure led to the massacre of 150 people in Kiwanja in December 2008, and that UN troops have raped girls and women in eastern Congo.

James Paul, executive director of the Global Policy Forum, agrees that UN forces have failed to protect the population. In part, because they were expected to work with the Congolese forces which have also been accused of human rights violations, including the rape of thousands of women.

"There have been problems in the relationship between the peacekeepers and the Congolese army because of concern that the UN has been identified with the violations," Paul said.

As a result, instead of working with the Congolese Army as it should have, MONUC has distanced itself from the Congolese Army so as not to be complicit in the latter's actions.

"The relations between MONUC and the Congolese Government have deteriorated extremely over the last couple of years because they don't see eye to eye on many issues," Denis Tull, a research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told Deutsche Welle.

Next year's election ups the stakes

Last month's announcement by the Congolese government that it wanted all UN troops to leave the country by August 2011 should have come as no surprise. But its timing was strategic.

"With the upcoming 50th anniversary of Congo's independence in June, the government does not want to see a permanent presence of the UN," Tull said.

Observers say the government wants to take credit for the achievements that have taken place since MONUC arrived in 1999. This would put it in good light for the presidential elections in 2011.

In spite of the criticism against MONUC, it has helped to reduce the extent of the conflict and helped Congo hold its first democratic elections in over four decades in 2006.

"President Kabila wants to be able to say to the Congolese people that he made the UN mission leave because there is peace in the country," Tull said.

Fabienne Hara, the vice-president of multilateral relations at the International Crisis Group, agrees. She told Deutsche Welle that "one of the reasons why the Congolese government wants to see MONUC withdraw is that they also want to be in charge of their own elections."

UN troops withdrawal unlikely

However, it is unlikely that the Congolese government will get exactly what it wants. Even though 2,000 UN troops are to leave Congo by June 30th, a report in March by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, recommends that troops remain in the more unstable eastern Congo. Also, the recent violence in Equateur will very likely affect the future of the UN mission.

"This new episode in Equateur shows that even western Congo is not completely stable despite what the government is saying. There's still some serious sources of tensions elsewhere in the Congo," Hara said.

The UN Security Council delegation visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo over the next few days will most certainly take the recent violence in Equateur into consideration, and UN troops are expected to remain in the eastern part of the country because "any withdrawal from eastern Congo would be a major catastrophe for the civilian population," Tull said.

Author: Chiponda Chimbelu

Editor: Rob Mudge