The problem with the Congo situation is that the East African Community (EAC) is well aware of the conflicts among its members caused by the perpetuation of colonial borders. The EAC fully acknowledges and appreciates that tribes were split between countries and that the failure of certain governments in the region to afford these groups their rights has caused hostilities. These are issues they have handled with sensitivity for over five decades.
In pursuit of a solution to this long-standing issueβone older than all SADC countriesβthe EAC deployed an East African Community Regional Force in November 2022 to enter Eastern Congo strictly for peacekeeping purposes while pushing for dialogue between the warring parties.
The problem arises because the EAC feels that Tshisekedi chose to abandon the EAC-led dialogue after manipulating SADC (the region that gained independence last in Africa) to intervene militarily in the conflict. This intervention shows no appreciation for the long-standing East African regional dialogue process and sensitivities in Eastern Congo that were well articulated by great African leaders like Nyerere, Nasser, Ben Bella, and even Thabo Mbeki recently.
We need to be careful as a region not to antagonize other regional blocs through British colonial-style paternalism, especially when we canβt even resolve our own conflicts like Cabo Delgado. We must also not forget that our liberation came from the same Eastern Bloc that we now undermine.
I myself have had to come to terms with the fact that I donβt fully understand the issues in the Great Lakes regionβa region with a longer history of independence than Southern Africaβbetter than they do.
In conclusion, on this matter of Eastern Congo which is different to an invasion to remove the Congolese government as happened in 1998, I think we should take a back seat as the youngest region on the continent and let the elders, the EAC, deal with the affairs of their members (Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda) without the immature, one-sided approach that we, as SADC, have taken in support of Congo, a member state.
As a region, we must be careful not to cause conflicts that could result in one or more of our members going into a protracted war or being sanctioned by the United States over an ongoing misunderstanding between sisters. It must also be remembered that for 24 years, Zimbabwe was under Western sanctions for coming to Congoβs rescue in 1998, and once that happened, Congo was of no aid to Zimbabwe when she became a laughing stock under sanctions that destroyed our economy and displaced refugees into SADC.
We must also push Congo to organize itself and learn to spend its own fiscus to build its own defense capacity so that it stops making it an obligation for other countries to fight its wars, risking regional conflagration and then only to give their resources to western companies.
