Fresh Analysis Of The Congo War

Jun 18, 2003

THE African Stakes Of the Congo War is mostly a collection of papers presented at a conference that took place in Entebbe from July 10-12, 2000, entitled ‘Conflict and Peace-Making in the Great Lakes Region.’

Title: The African Stakes Of The Congo War
Editor: John F. Clark
Publisher: Fountain Publishers
Available At: All major bookshops
Price: Sh18,000
Reviewed By: Chibita wa Duallo

THE African Stakes Of the Congo War is mostly a collection of papers presented at a conference that took place in Entebbe from July 10-12, 2000, entitled ‘Conflict and Peace-Making in the Great Lakes Region.’ The Conference featured three major addresses and 35 paper presentations. Not all the papers presented during the conference made it to the book.
The most unfortunate aspect of this omission is that none of the papers presented by Ugandans made it into the book, not even Professor Mahmood Mamdani’s Reflections on the Conflict in the Great Lakes Region! That is not to say that Uganda’s role in the conflict was not highlighted. Uganda’s role is contained in a paper written by the editor of the book, John F. Clark.
Clark took a leading role in organizing the Entebbe Conference. He was a US Fulbright scholar at Makerere University from September 1999 to July 2000. He is, substantially, an associate professor and the chairperson of the International Relations Department at Florida International University, Miami.
The book is 13 chapters long and is divided into four parts: ‘The Congo War in Conflict’, ‘The Post-Mobutu Regimes in Congo and their Supporters’, ‘The Contestants of the Kabila Regimes and Ambivalent States’, and ‘Early Outcomes and Non-state Phenomena.’
A lot of the matters discussed are quite contemporary. For example, you get to look at different theories about the assassination of Laurent Desire Kabila, the father of the current Congolese President, and the many enemies that he had managed to accumulate within one year of his presidency, as well as in analysis of whether his son, Joseph Kabila, will make the same mistakes. There is also ample coverage and analysis of the failed attempt by Rwanda to topple Laurent Kabila after getting close to Kinshasa. A detailed analysis of the fragmentation within the Congolese rebel groups is delved into to give the reader an interesting menu. The rebel leaders’ origins, motivations and strategies are outlined.
Each of the four major players in the Congo conflict — Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Angola — is given a chapter. Each of these chapters sets out to analyze the reasons behind the country’s joining the war, the economic and political effects of such intervention.
The common thread in the book seems to be that all the protagonists entered the war for economic reasons, which in a way undermines some of its analysis, given that some of its sources, like the Security Council Panel of Experts, were credited with having done a shallow job.
The overall conclusion, on the economic front, is that all the countries involved suffered economic loss at the national level.
In other words, the involvement in the war did not result in an economic boost for any of the countries. Instead (for Zimbabwe especially) economic disaster resulted. Individuals from each of the countries are however said to have made fortunes from the conflict.
The role of South Africa and President Mbeki in particular is given some coverage. The book concludes that though South Africa was not actively involved in the conflict, it suffered missed economic opportunities that it was poised to tap, but for the conflict.
To the credit of most of the papers, there is an attempt to address the security concerns of the countries bordering Congo. The divergent approaches of Uganda and Rwanda in helping the Congolese rebel groups are examined. In one of the papers, this difference in approach is cited as the reason for the Kisangani clashes.
A few of the conclusions and observations are already overtaken by the fast moving events on the ground. One of these is the assertion that Uganda would not be willing or able to withdraw its troops from the Congo. Of course, the withdrawal has already happened and no adverse consequences for the leadership of Uganda have been experienced.
On the contrary, the UN is realizing what an important role the UPDF was playing by being present in Bunia, for example. The book is very captivating and makes for very easy and fast reading. It would be a very useful addition to ones library. Ends

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