DRC’s peace remains feeble as long as lawlessness still rules

Editor, I wish to respond to Joseph Rwagatare’s opinion, ‘‘Lull before the storm in DRC,’’(The New Times): A well-argued piece which, nevertheless, suffers from a major flaw in assumption: the belief that the Congolese “Government” or their international enablers want things to improve.As strange as it might seem to a normal person, it is clear from their patterns of behavior at different points in time over the last two decades, that many in the Congolese Government, a large part of what is very loosely and often abusively referred to as the international community, powerful non-state actors in both business and activist organisations, all draw benefits from the lawlessness in the DRC that they must have concluded might be put at risk should peace, security and good governance prevail.As rational actors, they will therefore do everything they can to push off that undesirable and undesired possibility for as long as they can.If ordinary Congolese and, eventually, their neighbours in the Great Lakes region have to pay heavily for this situation preferred by outside actors and their local partners, so be it; it is an acceptable price as far as those people are concerned.Cynical? Not at all. Just recognition of how amoral geopolitical and business interests can be: things are never looked at from whether they are moral, just or wrong, but whether they advance or hinder those interests.Only us Africans seem to think that international relations should be driven by moral considerations. Others only pay lip service to morality while acting solely for material gain. It helps that they also control the media and can therefore effectively spin their actions, no matter how mercantilist, as aimed at promoting the human rights of those they are busy depriving them of.Mwene Kalinda, Kigali,Rwanda

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DRC’s peace remains feeble as long as lawlessness still rules