On Friday President Paul Kagame told the visiting European Union Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is responsible for 95 per cent of its problems.

Despite this, Kagame said that he is committed to helping solve these problems that have left some 250,000 people fleeing fighting between government and rebel forces.

Michel and Kagame agreed that the best way to solve the DR Congo problems was through dialogue. And while believing DRC must find their solutions to their problems, Kagame acknowledged the significance of regional involvement.

In another part of Africa, earlier this week, leaders from South Africa, Angola, Mozambique and Swaziland said they had failed to find a way to effect a power-sharing agreement between Mugabe and the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

President Robert Mugabe is responsible for much of Zimbabwe’s terrible suffering. But so long as Africa’s leaders allow Mugabe and his henchmen to bully them into silence they are fully complicit.

Zimbabwe’s problems have been handed over to a summit of the 15-member Southern African Development Community giving Africa another to solve the continent’s problem, for African leaders to solve African problems.

The group must come together quickly and be ready to bring whatever pressure is necessary to force Mugabe to cede real power.

Meanwhile, closer to home, as Kagame receives members of the international community to discuss what can be done to bring stability to Eastern Congo and bring a halt to the unveiling humanitarian crisis, we can be confident that his commitment to solving his neighbour’s problems will be fruitful.

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