Pulling Back from the Brink in the Congo by International Crisis Group 10:48am 6th Jul, 2004   06 July 2004    The Democratic Republic of Congo risks a return to full-scale war unless the international community strengthens its engagement with the country. The UN Security Council's impending review of its peacekeeping efforts in the Congo, due at the end of July, must not only renew the UN Mission for the Congo (MONUC), but also re-enforce it.    Pulling Back from the Brink in the Congo, the latest briefing paper from the International Crisis Group, examines the ongoing tensions in the aftermath of the violent struggle in late May and early June for control of Bukavu, the capital of the country's strategically sensitive South Kivu province that borders Rwanda. Those events ought to sound an alarm for all parties to the peace process and the international community, signifying that unless peace-building in the Kivus receives greater priority and more resources, the peace process could be destroyed even before any elections are held.    "None of the problems that rocked Bukavu last month has been solved", says Susan Linnee, Central Africa Project Director for ICG. "Bukavu could quickly fall again to the renegades, and the town of Goma could easily become the next centre of turmoil".    The May-June events were essentially a contest for control of South Kivu between the transitional government and anti-agreement elements supported by Rwanda, whose frequent interference contradicts its own need for long-term stability and development in the region.    The Congo is in transition from a country ravaged by a major war to what is intended to become a reunified polity legitimised by democratic elections. This is meant to happen through a process outlined in several agreements mediated by South Africa and concluded among the Congolese and external belligerents in what was both a civil and an international conflict. However, that process has not yet reached the crucial stage at which all concerned have decided that the benefits of peace outweigh the illusory gains of further fighting.    The international community must strengthen the transition in the Congo by strongly pressuring Rwanda to stop interfering in its neighbour and by making MONUC a much more capable force. MONUC must be re-enforced with men and material so that it is able to support the security component of the peace process. The Bukavu incident also demonstrates the need for accountability for past abuses and an end to impunity for war crimes in the Congo as an imperative for a stable national transition.    "The Congo's wars of 1996 and 1998, which led to the deaths of three million people, both started in the Kivus", says Stephen Ellis, Director of ICG's Africa Program. "There will be lasting peace in the country only if it has a strong foundation there" Visit the related web page
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