SA 'Africa's peacemaker' - DRC

2006-07-27 09:12

Jan Hennop

Johannesburg - South Africa's reputation as the continent's peacemaker is riding on elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in which it has invested huge amounts of time and money to bring about change, say officials and analysts.

But, as the central African giant geared up for its first polls in more than 40 years on Sunday, experts warned that it would take more than just a "magic wand" of elections to bring about real democracy to a country that had known only decades of dictatorial rule followed by two vicious civil wars.

On a balmy autumn day in 2003, SA's President Thabo Mbeki looked on as Congolese delegates penned the country's final peace deal at the luxury Sun City casino resort, northwest of Pretoria.

SA sends troops to Monuc

Analysts said that the agreement between Kinshasa, the country's two main rebel groups and civic groups capped 19 months of intense diplomacy, facilitated by the Mbeki government and funded mainly by SA's taxpayers.

The deal set the scene for the DRC's first polls in more than 40 years since its independence from Belgium in 1960.

Pretoria backed the deal by sending troops to the United Nations Mission in the Congo (Monuc), which had about 2 000 SA soldiers - mainly in the volatile eastern provinces like Ituri and the Kivus - deployed under its command.

Late last month, SA announced that it was sending 300 monitors and technicians while ballots to accommodate the central African giant's 25 million voters were being printed here.

Kingsley Mamabolo, SA's ambassador to the Great Lakes region, said: "For us it is very important that these elections in the DRC succeed to drive the message home that we as Africans are capable of solving our own problems.

"This is why these elections are crucial to the whole continent."

Successful poll 'will bring stability'

Richard Cornwell, an analyst based at the Institute for Security Studies think-tank in Pretoria, said: "The DRC was the epicentre of a whole set of conflicts, which had to be resolved if Africa was to move ahead with its development path as perceived by Pretoria.

"A successful election will bring about stability to the countries bordering the DRC. All those are threatened as long as the Congo is in a vacuum."

But, Cornwell pointed out that there were also more fundamental economic principles behind SA's altruistic moves towards peace in the central African country.

He said: "Business opportunities are huge in the Congo. It's an Eldorado for private enterprise if you can get political stability and an end to conflict.

"What we talk about here is patriotism plus five percent."

Great Lakes analyst Jan van Eck agreed, adding that elections "should be the result of peace in the DRC. It should be held to bring about peace".

- AFP