The onus is on DRCongo, not outsiders

Editor,I do not believe that it is the responsibility of Congo’s neighbouring countries to solve their problems. I am tired of the UN and the international community saying that Rwanda, Uganda, etc. must support this “new” framework in order for the DRC to have peace and development.Ban Ki-moon and all the other “power brokers” sound like a broken record. They have made these speeches countless times in the past and continue to repeat the same old statements and offer the same old advice.It is time for these “all-knowing and all-powerful” people to put extreme pressure on President Kabila and his government to resolve the issues in Congo, especially eastern Congo. As long as the UN, NGO’s and the international media continue to prop up Kabila he will do NOTHING to stop the chaos and help his own people. Marie Collins, Winnipeg, Canada*****************I thank Marie Collins for expressing my exact views regarding Ban Ki-moon’s empty rhetoric. The solution to Congo’s failed state status lies in the hands of Congo’s own Government by recognising that attempts to disenfranchise a section of its own population, while also providing a rear base for terrorists [FDLR] from neighbouring countries, is a prescription for never-ending conflict, insecurity and general mayhem across that country.Continuously attempting to shift responsibility for solving a country’s internal mis-governance onto the shoulders of neighbours, even as you demand that those same countries desist from interference in that country’s internal affairs, is the height of incoherence. How do they expect Rwanda and Uganda to satisfy these opposing demands?And how does the UN expect Kabila to have an incentive to improve governance and respect – not just minority rights but the rights of all DRC citizens – if the so-called international community, with Ban’s UN at the forefront, is willing to cut him all the slack he wants, including not having to account for catastrophic mismanagement of his country’s affairs in all respects?Why should neighbours shoulder a disastrous DRC situation infinitely aggravated by the presence of Rwandan genocidaires introduced there by the French Turquoise Operation with UNSC acquiescence? And why does the UN continue to allow the French pyromaniacs to take the lead on this issue in which they have an overwhelming role in creating?Only in the UN would Herve Ladsous - the man who, as France’s deputy permanent representative to the UN in 1994, was vocally defending the then Rwandan genocidal Government of Bagosora, Sindikubwabo and Kambanda - would now be the head of that organisation’s “peacekeeping” department and, as such, responsible for the UN’s operations in what is clearly an effort to save those genocidaires!That Ban Ki-moon doesn’t seem to grasp the incongruity of this situation makes one wonder about his competence to lead global peace efforts.Mwene Kalinda, Kigali, RwandaReactions to the story, “UN chief pleads for Congo peace deal”, (The New Times, May 25)

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The onus is on DRCongo, not outsiders