It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
The Truth and the Realities
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the least developed nations of the world. For the one who have travelled the length and breadth of DRC the above mentioned fact would be hard to digest and rightly so - DRC is geographically the largest nation in the African continent has rich mineral resources, varied flora and fauna, profusion of natural resources, fertile fields, beautiful landscapes and to top it all a pleasant weather. This abundance seems DRC biggest curse today.
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| In the shadow of Gun |
DRC stands at the crossroads of history where its past is full of wars, bloodshed and hatred and future seems to be dark and gloomy. The wars have rendered millions homeless in their own country, the lives have been lost, women lost their honour, children lost their childhood and the nation lost everything to history.
The Beginning of End
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| The scramble for Africa |
The present state of affairs in DRC is not accidental -its fault lines were drawn during the Berlin Conference in 1885 during the Scramble for Africa. The Free State of the Congo was confirmed as the private property of the Congo Society thereby ensuring that Leopold's promises to keep the country open to all European investment was retained. Thus the territory of today's Democratic Republic of the Congo, some two million square kilometres was made essentially the private property of King Leopard II.. Later it eventually became a Belgian colony in 1908 after the “Tragedy of red rubber” was put to an end in 1908.
Belgian Congo got its full independence -“Dipenda” from Belgians hastily by accident in June 1960. It was hoped at that time that somehow and in spite of lack of preparations, including the lack of educated elite, miraculously things might work out for Democratic Republic of Congo what came to be known as "le pari congolais"—the Congolese bet. Scarcely one week after the handover of sovereignty the nascent democracy died its unnatural death - what followed was three decades of dictatorship.
The two wars in 1990’s has brought DRC to its present fate, The first war began in September 1996 as an invasion by a coalition of neighbouring states of what was then Zaire, and succeeded in replacing president Mobutu with Laurent Kabila in May 1997. The second war broke out in August 1998 when a similar configuration of neighbouring states, some of whom had been Kabila’s patrons in the first war.
The Dilemma
In the late nineteenth century when the other countries of Africa came under influence of colonial powers ,DRC was a merely private property of Leopord II. The colonial powers in what they took away from their colonies gave them back a solid education system, administrative system, judicial system and industries ,where as DRC remained devoid of all this and was a subject of exploitation only.
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| Big puzzle |
When the world order changed during WW II, The DRC was being used as a supply station to the allied forces and it’s the irony that the uranium from the mines of DRC was used in the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When the wave of freedom struggle went throughout the world, Africa and the DRC were fighting Colonialism, Apartheid and Racism.The absence of any Pan-Congo nationalist freedom movement resulted in a fractured nation at itsIndependence, where people had more reasons to fight each other than to unite.
The Pan- Congo nationalist freedom movement could have brought people of different culture and ethnicities together and united a nation for a common cause which share it’s boarders with nine countries, have four national languages, hundreds of dialects, two time zones , many ethnicities and as many beliefs, diversity but no unity.
The 90’s saw one of the bloodiest pogroms in the history of civilised world after WW II and it happened in the neighbourhood of DRC; the opposition within DRC used it as an opportunity to overthrow the government and the individual, parties and government changed sides at will as per their convenience.
It’s an irony that the battles of neighbourhood were fought in the courtyard of DRC. The state and non- state actors in the vicinity of DRC used it as recruiting/training/ breeding ground and later the battlegrounds of all the battles in the region.It became the safe heaven for the bandits and many armed groups ‘mai-mai’flourished. Yesterday who fought against each other are today brethren’s in arms and who fought alongside are enemies and nobody knows who is on whose friend and enemy. It’s difficult to decipher who is the true custodian of the interests of the DRC.
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| Homeless in their own homeland |
The country is sitting on a fragile democracy. The government of the day has been unable to deliver the promises, the authority of the government has not reached villages, the institutions of judiciary, legislature and executive remains feeble and the economy have still to kick off.People have lost hope because of failed dialogues, false promises, botched elections and continuous interference and exploitation by foreign powers.
The biggest paradox is that only the eastern part, that also only one province out of eleven provinces of the DRC is affected by sporadic fighting because of various non state actors having illegal weapons. Porous borders, ethnic pluralism and external influences are the biggest nemesis of the state. All this has taken peace, prosperity and progress of the Nation hostage.
The Paradigm shift in approach
Peace building initiatives are most successful when they are pursued in parallel with nation building and democratization, as seen in the case of Mozambique. The present government should work on strengthening institutions of democracy, equality and peace. The judiciary, executive and legislature at all levels need to be held accountable. The police need to be reorganised, trained and equipped to deal with law and order problems.Demobilisation, Disarmament and Rehabilitation of all armed groups in true sense will give peace a chance
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| Crossroads |
The Army requires a revamp and its outlook has to be like a national army not as a militia. The army need to be demobilised and reorganised in to well disciplined, trained and equipped army where soldiers do not have any ethnic affinity while performing their duty and people see it as their saviours not as adversaries. It needs to be restructured having its regular recruitment and training academies. The practice of merging militias as such is fatal as people carry their affinities, rivalries and hidden agendas with themselves and the concept of national army is defeated and this seems to be the one of the stumbling block for peace even after two nationwide elections.
As far as UN is concerned at times the Military continue to receive undue emphasis in situations of violent conflict, while the evidence shows that a more integrated approach, anchored on diplomacy and social justice concerns, produce more lasting results. All entities of UN and all NGO’s operating in DRC should work hand in hand even at the lowest level so that the benefits can reach the deprived at right time at the right place and thus will portray a better picture of UN and International community and sincerity of their concern for the people of DRC. It will further help soothing the wounds of the grieved people, help in reaching out to the right people, bridging the fissures in the ethnically divided society and eventually all this will help in building sustainable peace.
The Government of day should channelize its energy for building the pillars of development like education institutions , the infrastructure for industry, roads, electricity at a stupendous pace ,as the economic freedom and self sustained economy will only be able to lead DRC towards stability, prosperity and will be able to give sustenance to the peace.
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Walking tall |
There is a critical need for approaches that ensure that externally funded initiatives can continue even after the external donors have left. On the other hand an overemphasis on a hurried exit strategy can be counter-productive unless local ownership and capacity is strengthened from the very beginning of externally funded initiatives.
Building sustainable peace is a long-term process that needs long-term frames. Sustainable peace building requires a measure of constructive engagement between civil society and government. Civil society needs to change its paradigm - “They need a new paradigm. They can’t always be challenging government; throwing stones at them and expecting that alone to produce results.” There is a need to go beyond seeing government as rival, and looking for a cooperative ground. Even where critique of government is imperative they should bear in mind the saying that: “The perfect is the enemy of the good.”
The Panacea
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| The road not taken |
A public campaign approach, based largely on radio,print and electronic media, social networking sites has vigorous outreach. It can mobilise masses and if used judiciously .The movements such as the labour movement, students movement, and women’s movement can facilitate in mobilizing popular support and in nudging political leaders to take action against the perpetrator of insecurity, instability , lawlessness and enemy within the state.
The fact that many of the potent “feeders” of violence and conflict are external to the DRC. It is required that sustainable peace building initiatives must have strong capacity for monitoring, analysis, and advocacy. There is a direct relationship between sustainable peace building and external solidarity. Neighbouring governments, civil society organizations and Diaspora organizations can play a constructive role.
Peace building and conflict prevention initiatives are often structurally designed to fail because they exclude the “silent” and marginalized stakeholders such as women, youth, and the private sector. The women as a mother, sister, wife and a daughter can play a major role because in all these years of conflicts they have been the silent victims and mode of vengeance. The women of the house need to influence their husbands, brothers , sons and fathers not to be party to conflict of any sorts and this message need to be carried to each and every household of the Nation. Such a movement will bring for sure the sustainable peace in country and in the region.
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| Carrying the burden |
In the ethnic plural country ravaged by wars and hatred to sow the seeds of peace it would be imperative and prudent to adopt the South African model of “Truth and Reconciliation Mission“ which acted as the panacea for South Africa to built sustainable peace and today it stands as the model of peace and prosperity to all African Nations.
The Beacon
The DRC isn’t all failed politics and wasted natural resources however somewhere in the midst of this proverbial heart of darkness lies a lumbering African giant. In some senses, the future can only get better. With five Biospheres, whole ecosystems of teeming wildlife and an estimated US$24 trillion of untapped mineral capacity lying underneath the ground, it goes without saying that the country’s potential is breathtaking.
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| The Ray of Hope |
The ray of hope is there. It is in the eyes of the children going to schools, women singing doing their daily chores, smiles on the faces of the men toiling hard in the fields and in the happiness they share together, in these difficult times, having their one and the only meal of the day together.
I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out......
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
