The US's cards appear stacked against Kabila

Mundy Belibo

I wrote the following letter to Marek of NCN, that he is not willing to post. Could you please post this in case any Congolese National would be interested to the issues raised. Dear Marek, You have done a very good job summarising the situation in the Congo and prescribing what needs to be done for peace. "The problems of the Democratic Republic of the Congo must be solved on the basis of a process of all-inclusive national reconciliation which fully respects the equality and harmony of all ethnic groups and which leads to the holding of democratic, free and fair elections as soon as possible." However, you have missed this time arround the fact that the govervenments in Rwanda and Uganda are not democratic and do have rebellions against them. Why are they supporting the rebellion in the DR Congo ? Now that all the borders between DR Congo and Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi are part of the occupied (let say liberated) areas of the country, how is Kabila supporting the hutus attacking Rwanda and Burundi ? It sounds to me that the rebellion in the Congo is led by Tutsis (Is this true ?), they want an area where they can extend their rwandan culture, which is fair. But why only them ? Why do they have to become a special group in the Congo ? In which respect are they a minority in the Congo if they constitute just one of the 200 tribes ? This must have nothing to do with Kabila, does it ? What sort of equality and harmony are the rebelles fighting for ? Tustsis were in the Government until such time that they decided to start the war in August. Does this means that their tribe wasn't recognised as a Congolese tribe ? Nationality, what is this administrative term ? You live in a country, you study with that government scholarship, you become minister in the government, you hold that nation passport and you then request a nationality. Do you understand that ? The drama in the DR Congo is result of the country longstanding hospitality. Nobody seems to recognise this. The UN is even unable to thank the people of the Congo for this. There are thousands of Angolan living in Kinshasa. Nobody asks them to leave. No hatred, no violence against them. Angolan count amongst, until a very recent past, the Kinois (of Kinshasa) football and music stars. This is unlikely to be due to the fact that they are Bantou with the same morphology as the majority of Congolese. It is rather their ability to integrate into the Congolese life. There must be something wrong to generate the feeling Congolese have now against the Tustsis. This must have started well before the 1996-97 rebellion. I would prefer people to be honest and stay within their country or emigrate and apply honestly for the adoption of a second nationality. This is what happens everywhere in the World except in the DR Congo. At this point I would ask Mrs Susan Rice to recommend ( to the US Congress and Administration) a solution to the Hutus genociders of 1994, now living in the Congo. Is it possible for them to share the same land with the Banyamulenge ? Has the Congolese government got the money to manage both groups with their original hatred from Rwanda ? What are the international community's thoughts about these Hutus living in the Congo ? Would they stay there for generations to generations ? Do anybody knows who they are by name ? Is there a plan for an official census to count how many they are ? Is it difficult for the UN to devise a program of their rapatriation (now or in the future) ? I have been having problems to try and explain to my children what the UN role is. They keep asking me whether the UN actions are linked to the fact that their headquarters are based in the U.S (the World super Power) who are policing the world and tending to impose leaders to other powerless Countries. My response to my children may be biased, I would prefer someone else to react to this. I don't expect you to do so. The current war is just the biginning of the real war in the Great Lakes region. Let Mandela retire. Let and wait for the time when Susan Rice's generation runs for the presidency in the United States of America. Mundy Belibo U.K