Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the poorest nations of Africa and also one of the most war-ridden. In the last 15 years, there have been two separate occasions, in which the nation has been forced into civil wars. Peace and progress have been hard to unearth for the Congolese people as their nation’s politicians have consistently failed to come up with the solutions.
The recent string of clashes between rebels loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda and government troops has raised the ghastly fears of yet another civil war. The eastern province of Nord-Kivu is the one that has been the epicenter of all the chaos ad as more and more people are escaping from the region, the stark, naked reality that DR Congo has a lot to travel till it can gain peace and security inside its territories is coming to the fore.
The problem in DR Congo commenced way back in 1994 when the Rwandan Genocide occurred and opened the floodgates for millions of refugees to steal into the nation. The violence then magnified to ethnic strife and civil war that virtually destroyed the nation from1996 to 1997.
The 5-year long civil war from 1998 to 2003 shoved the country into a deep hole from where the nation’s politicians are finding it hard to dig the nation out.
The recent clashes between the Congolese army, and the 6,000 troops loyal to Nkunda sparked in August this year. According to a United Nations estimation, more than 370,000 people have fled their homes with 750,000 displaced.
The open combat between the rebels and the Congolese army comes at a sensitive time. DR Congo President Joseph Kabila is to fly out to Washington to hold talks with the US President George W Bush soon and the latest round of violence is only going to complicate the matter. Mr. Kabila is still perceived as the right man to thread the African through such trying times but he has come under increasing international pressure to step up military action against the armed rebels. It remains to be seen whether the meeting with Mr. Bush can deliver any solution.
Image Source:Alertnet
Source: Yahoo News
