DATE=2/7/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=AFRICAN CONFLICTS
NUMBER=6-11670
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
INTRO: Africa continues to be torn by warfare as the
new century begins. Among the most violent and
destructive conflicts are the civil war in the
mineral-rich Congo, the border war between Ethiopia
and Eritrea, which appears ready to explode again, and
the Hutu-Tutsi conflict in Burundi.
All three conflicts are coming in for renewed
editorial attention in the U-S press, and we get a
sampling now from ___________ in today's U-S Opinion
Roundup.
TEXT: As explained in a front page story in Sunday's
[2/6] New York Times, Congo and its neighbors sit on
probably the richest section of real estate on the
planet. The land is rich "in diamonds, oil, uranium,
gold, plentiful water, fertile land and exquisite
wildlife." But for more years than anyone cares to
count, Congo has been rent by turmoil, most recently
under a brutal civil war against the government of
Laurent Kabila, who took over from one of the
continent's most notorious despots, Mobutu Sese Seku.
No fewer than nine separate rebel groups operate from
Congo, trying to overthrow the governments of its nine
neighbors. Six different neighboring armies are
fighting inside Congo, with various objectives.
Meanwhile, Congo's vast mineral wealth is routinely
smuggled out of the country.
In the Horn of Africa, there is even less reason for
warfare to the casual observer, as Ethiopia and
Eritrea prepare to do battle again over a barren, and
apparently valueless, few hundred hectares of desert.
And in Burundi, the horrid genocidal war that engulfed
its tiny neighbor Rwanda earlier last decade goes on,
in a so-called low intensity war, with frequent
clashes between the Hutus and Tutsis. The continent's
moral leader, Nelson Mandela of South Africa, has
recently lent his prestige and guidance to helping
find a solution to the violence.
We begin with the situation in The Democratic Republic
of Congo-Kinshasa and some thoughts from The Miami
Herald.
VOICE: President Clinton acknowledges that U-S
missteps more than seven years ago contributed
to the simmering war in Rwanda, where more than
one million people ... died in a bloodbath
between the Hutus and the Tutsis. Mr. Clinton
apologized for that mistake two years ago during
a visit to Africa. He should now live up to his
vow not to let it happen again. ... Since then,
thousands of Africans have died on Congo
battlefields. This time, the United States is
taking the lead by pushing for five-thousand
United Nations troops to support 500 cease-fire
monitors. Congress needs to get on board by
approving the United States' share of the 90-
million price tag for the operation for next
fiscal year. ... Just as the United States
exerted its influence to help stem wars in
Bosnia and Kosovo, so, too, must it play a role
in bringing stability to the Congo.
TEXT: To New York's Long Island now, where Newsday
has serious doubts about the efficacy of this
Congolese rescue mission.
VOICE: At the U-N Security Council, the United States
is being asked to play a decisive role in ...
Congo. President Bill Clinton must think long
and hard before committing the nation to a
mission of uncertain scope and duration which
could turn into a heartbreaking quagmire. For
the past three years, Congo has been wracked by
a vicious civil war that has sucked in half a
million troops from neighboring nations and now
threatens to destabilize Africa's Great Lakes
region, with Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda backing
Congolese rebel factions. The conflict is rife
with reports of gross abuses of human rights -
- among them a practice of burying women alive.
... Richard Holbrooke,the U-S ambassador to the
U-N - - and no stranger to peacekeeping efforts
in the Balkans - - is right to be skeptical
about U-S participation in any Congo peace-
keeping mission. He has argued that it is
crucial to make sure the conditions for such a
mission are in place and its scope, duration and
exit strategy are clearly defined before
Washington agrees to it.
TEXT: Moving on to the Horn of Africa, where the
rainy season is ending, and troops are massing on both
sides of the Ethiopian - Eritrean border, the Chicago
Tribune agonizes over the prospect of renewed
fighting.
VOICE: Despite the best efforts of the Clinton
administration to negotiate a peace, some 250-
thousand troops have been assembled on each side
of the disputed border, ready to resume a
conflict that killed more than 70-thousand
people in 1998 and 1999. War is seasonal there.
The rains have passed, followed by a season of
major arms buying and now the dry season.
Tragically, there appears to be little, if
anything, the U-S or other outsiders can do to
stop it.
/// OPT ///
Chicago Bears chairman Michael McCaskey, who taught
school in Ethiopia for the Peace Corps in the 1960s,
has joined other prominent former Peace Corps
volunteers promoting a peaceful solution.
/// END OPT ///
Negotiations continue, but in the end, the dispute may
well erupt into war again until both sides fight to a
stalemate or tire themselves out.
TEXT: And lastly, to Nelson Mandela's recent effort
to get peace talks going within Burundi, to stop the
inter-tribal warfare there. The San Francisco
Chronicle hopes his enormous, worldwide prestige can
force the government and the rebels away from the
battle lines, and over to the conference table.
VOICE: Maybe the star power of Nelson Mandela can end
the suffering in the tiny African country of
Burundi. A civil war, spilled over from
neighboring Rwanda, has killed 200-thousand in a
conflict the world has ignored. [Mr.] Mandela,
the continent's moral exemplar, is playing
mediator in the fighting, pitting Hutu rebels
against a Tutsi-run government. If the tribal
names sound familiar, it's because they match
the battle lines in next-door Rwanda, a country
recovering from a genocidal rampage that left
800-thousand Tutsi dead in 1994. ... For the U-
N, ending Burundi's troubles is also a chance to
make up for its failure to head off the
monumental Rwandan slaughter. Secretary General
Kofi Annan, then an upper-rank U-N official, and
the Clinton team did nothing to halt the deaths
masterminded by Hutu extremists against a Tutsi
minority. Burundi is a second chance to get it
right.
TEXT: On that note from the San Francisco Chronicle,
we conclude this sampling of opinion from the U-S
press on three of the worst trouble spots in Africa.
NEB/ANG/gm
07-Feb-2000 15:34 PM EDT (07-Feb-2000 2034 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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