12 April 2002
Secure Borders Crucial to Solution of DRC War, U.S Official Says
(M. Bellamy testifies before Senate Africa Subc.) (890)
By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington - Respect for the "sanctity of borders" must be part of any
lasting solution to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), which has involved as many as seven nations, four bordering on
the former "Zaire," says Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
for African Affairs Mark Bellamy.
Speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Africa Subcommittee April
9, Bellamy said, "a cease-fire among the signatories to the Lusaka
Agreement has mostly held, except in the eastern Congo...involving,
among others, Rwandan-backed Congolese rebels, Congolese-backed
Rwandan rebels, local Congolese militia, the Rwandan Army, and
Congolese supported Burundian Hutu rebels."
The official added, "I was in Kinshasa two weeks ago and reiterated to
the Congolese government the importance of finding a negotiated
settlement to the conflict."
To that end, Bellamy told lawmakers; "We have provided $2 million for
the Joint Military Commission, a commission of the signatories to the
Lusaka Agreement whose duties are to resolve military problems
connected with the Agreement, including cease-fire violations. We
intend to notify Congress shortly that we will provide additional
assistance in fiscal year 2002."
Africa Subcommittee Chairman Senator Russell Feingold, Democrat of
Wisconsin, introduced this second in a series of informational
hearings -- the first was on Somalia -- saying it was important for
U.S. security to keep Africa high on the agenda of policymakers in
Washington. "Broadly, I am hoping that we can apply some of the
lessons that have been drawn from South Asia recently to the
sub-Saharan context -- lessons about the very serious consequences of
disengagement and neglect while states collapse and institutions
falter."
Feingold pointed out that a major problem for DRC was "long borders"
and he asked Bellamy "What kind of border security is possible for a
vast country like Congo and what, if anything, could the international
community do to help?"
Bellamy responded: "The first thing that has to happen, clearly, is
that Congo, together with its neighbors, have to come to a mutual
understanding that they are all better off protecting their borders
than allowing groups to operate across those borders and allowing the
borders to be porous. There needs to be a clear regional understanding
about the sanctity and importance of borders."
But beyond that, he said, "the government of Kinshasa needs to be able
to develop the means to extend control over its territory and part of
the answer to that question, quite frankly, Mr. Chairman, probably not
in the too far distant future, will be the initial formation of an
army."
Bellamy said President Joseph Kabila has indicated an interest in "a
professional more competent armed force" compared to the poorly
trained and paid militia now in existence. So, at some point, it will
necessary "that a professional army be formed in the Congo that is
capable of making progress" in maintaining border security.
Fabienne Hara, Africa project co-director of the International Crisis
Group (ICG), an international non-governmental organization dedicated
to conflict resolution, agreed with Bellamy on the need for a DRC
army. In recommending a strategy for the U.S. government, she told
lawmakers, "Rather than exclusively focusing on the needs of external
actors, the starting point should be to make the Congolese state
self-sustaining, giving the Congolese themselves the strength to
better carry out their obligations to protect their own citizens and
to ensure border security with the neighbor countries."
Asked about the presence of foreign troops in the DRC, Bellamy said,
"A small number of Angolan [armed] forces are still in the Congo and
there are Ugandan forces that are still there but both of those
nations have withdrawn sizeable contingents from the Congo. The large
foreign contingents remaining are Rwandan and Zimbabwean."
Bellamy said Angolan forces were in the DRC originally to deny the use
of Congolese bases to UNITA, the rebel force that the Angolan
government had been battling since 1975. But since the recent death of
UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi and the signing of a cease-fire agreement,
"the main reason for an Angolan presence is diminishing and it may be
headed for a complete withdrawal from the Congo," he said.
Asked to comment on reports that President Kabila and Rwandan
President Paul Kagame did not trust each other, Bellamy acknowledged a
certain degree of accuracy in that assessment. However, he said, the
two leaders had met and held discussions while both were visiting
Washington last year.
Bellamy added, "They have met on subsequent occasions, but it is clear
that there is not a good chemistry between those two leaders. They
have not been able to reach a mutual understanding much less an
agreement" on ways to end the conflict.
The official told Feingold, "We have given some thought to this. We
believe this is a very important relationship in terms of breaking the
current deadlock in the conflict. And we think there are a number of
measures that perhaps can be put on the table, discussed, mined and
sequenced in the right way so that if the two [leaders] were able to
see perhaps a period of reciprocal confidence-building measures, it
might be possible [for them] to start a dialogue and generate" some
progress.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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