A vast African civil war has been highlighted and will be intensified following the assassination of Laurent Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A territory the size of western Europe with a population of 50 million people, it has been fought over by tens of thousands of troops backed by six of its nine neighbours since Kabila ousted the longstanding dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, in 1997.
Huge mineral wealth and strategic interests explain these external involvements. They have resulted in an effective four-way partition of the country. Rwanda and Uganda, in alliance with guerrilla movements, control most of the northern and eastern parts while Kabila's forces hold onto the south and west. It was only intervention by Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia which saved the Kabila regime from collapse three years ago. By inviting them in he had to concede rights over mineral wealth. Zimbabwe has some 11,000 troops involved: Angolan troops use their position to pursue their own civil war with Unita forces, while Namibia was also offered rich pickings in return for military help.
This war has displaced at least two million in what has been mostly an inaccessible and unreported conflict. Attempts by the United Nations to reach an accord in 1999 came to nothing. Most of the external states are too deeply involved at this stage to contemplate withdrawal. The succession to Kabila will probably remain within his circle because of the inability of his domestic and external opponents to agree among themselves.
Having fought a long guerrilla war against Mobutu, Kabila came to power with the help of Rwanda's Tutsi leadership in 1997. They backed him in an attempt to break the power of the militias responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda which killed up to one million people. Once in power Kabila rapidly reneged on agreements and then turned on his Rwandan backers. Along with Ugandan-supported guerrillas they then launched a counter attack which required him to draw in Zimbabwean and Angolan forces to survive.
The conflict is driven by greed as well as fear. Fabulous mineral wealth has created a highly unsavoury international network of illicit trade and graft. Ordinary citizens of the Congo have hardly benefited from these riches and have little prospect of doing so after Kabila's death. Many believe the huge territory is too unwieldy to survive as one entity. It now looks as if partition could become more permanent since none of the antagonists is strong enough to triumph over the others.
Prospects of international intervention appear remote under African or United Nations auspices but Kabila's death does highlight the prolonged war and the destruction it has brought to the Congolese people. The shameful neglect of their suffering should provoke concern and involvement by sympathisers in the international community.