Africa
The Region
Africa Month
After assuming the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council on the first of the year, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke proclaimed January the “month of Africa” and set up a series of public meetings at the Security Council to draw attention to some of the continent’s most pressing problems. High on the agenda was U.N. mediation to reach a settlement of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and an agreement to send in a 5,500-strong peace monitoring force.
Although the leaders of nations and rebel groups battling inside the DRC came to talks at the U.N., “it may be a case of too little, too late,” commented Kampala’s government-owned New Vision in an editorial (Feb. 11). “But the [peacekeeping] resolution should nevertheless still be welcomed with open arms. It is essential for the future of Central Africa and indeed the whole continent that the Lusaka accord and peace process remain on track.”
Levi Ochieng, a correspondent for the independent weekly East African of Nairobi (Jan. 24), did not question the sincerity of the attempt to bring peace to the DRC. “That the U.S. is pushing for a meeting on African conflicts at the Security Council is a sign that it is determined to turn its rhetoric on Africa into tangible action,” Ochieng wrote. “Although it is unlikely that Holbrooke will use the strong-arm tactics that proved successful in ending the war in Kosovo, his very presence as the U.S. negotiator...is likely to send a strong signal to the warring parties.”
Elsewhere in Africa, comments were less hopeful, particularly in Zimbabwe, where millions of dollars have been spent sending troops to support the Congolese government. “For many Zimbabweans, their country has paid enough in casualties in the name of solidarity with the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Harare’s Daily News. “It is time for the Congolese to sort out their own stupid war.” Meanwhile, Cephas Chitsaka in The Herald of Harare (Jan. 24) pointed to a U.N. double standard.
“Failure to condemn the aggressors and delays in dispatching peacekeepers to the DRC has exposed the U.N. to fierce criticism of bias,” Chitsaka wrote. “The U.N. has been quick to move into Bosnia and East Timor, but for Africans it demands security guarantees and set stages before troops are deployed.”
In Nigeria, Lagos’s independent Comet said (Feb. 1) on the U.N’s episodic attention, “We welcome any focus on Africa by the international community, but past experience inclines us to receive this piece of news with skepticism, if not with cynicism.”
