THE Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) resolve to solve the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) went a notch higher on Saturday with the heads of SADC Troika on Peace, Defence and Security vowing that they would not rest until a lasting solution to the conflict is realised.
“I want to inform SADC that we will not rest until peace is restored in eastern DRC,” the current chair of SADC Troika on Peace, Defence and Security, President Jakaya Kikwete, told the SADC Extraordinary Summit that met under the chairmanship of Mozambican President Armando Guebuza.
He said they had met on Friday to discuss increased violence and refugee situation emerging in that part of DRC and was glad that SADC has taken precise action to check the situation. Addressing the members in his capacity as Chairperson of National Conference on Great Lakes region, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni cautioned that the neutral forces being sent to Congo should not tolerate co-existing with rebels as it would hamper efforts to find a lasting solution to the conflict.
Using his experience of the region for 50 years, he said the current security problems in the Congo were in two categories; one where it affects its people and neighbours and the other which is strictly internal. He said DRC has for years been used by rebel groups to attack neighbouring countries, noting that it was former President Mobutu Sese Seko’s policy to destabilise neighbouring countries.
But today, he said, Congo was being used by the same rebel groups, but this time by default since it was not President Joseph Kabila’s policy to destabilise its neighbours. He said the late Mobutu had started a programme to reject some Congolese, terming them as non-Congolese.
He, however, mentioned the third problem as ‘Eurocentric,’ where international groups decide to intervene in Congo issues without knowing exactly what the real causes of the conflict are. “The further you are away from the problem, the easier it is for you to be fed lies,” he said.
He said that they should resolve that if there is a problem in Africa, the first ones to intervene should be the national parties involved, then the region bodies and subsequently the international community as the last resort. “We should avoid the mismatch where the international community comes in without consulting the region. They bring in forces that have no impact in solving the problem.
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Southern Africa: SADC Effort to Solve Eastern DRC Conflict Goes Top-Notch