Daily Archives: December 1, 2012

RDC: Le M23 a achevé son retrait de la ville de Goma.

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El Memeyi Murangwa

01/12/12 

 

m23_ret.jpg Beaucoup n’y croyait pas, mais le retrait de l’Armée Révolutionnaire du Congo (ARC) de Goma et de la banlieue de Saké vient de s’achever sans heurts.   Joseph Kabila qui comptait sur un refus du M23 de rentrer dans ses positions initiales vient de subir un choc car Kinshasa qui n’a plus d’armée envisageait déjà de solliciter l’aide de la « communauté internationale » enfin d’en finir avec la seule farouche opposition armée  à son régime.

Contrairement au gouvernement congolais, le leadership du M23 aura démontré qu’il respecte ses engagements en se conformant à la demande de la Conférence internationale sur la région des Grands lacs (CIRGL).  Kinshasa qui avant la chute de Goma opposer un refus catégorique à négocier avec le M23 semble refaire les alliances politiques en vue des négociations quasi incontournables avec la rébellion.

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To Save Congo, Let It Fall Apart.

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J. Peter Pham

12/01/12

 

THE Democratic Republic of Congo, which erupted in violence again earlier this month, ought to be one of the richest countries in the world. Its immense mineral reserves are currently valued by some estimates at more than $24 trillion and include 30 percent of the world's diamond reserves; vast amounts of cobalt, copper and gold; and 70 percent of the world's coltan, which is used in electronic devices. Yet the most recent edition of the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index ranked Congo last among the 187 countries and territories included in the survey.

Instead of prosperity, Congo's mineral wealth has brought only an endless procession of unscrupulous rulers eager to exploit its riches, from King Leopold II of Belgium to Mobutu Sese Seko, who was allowed by the logic of the cold war to rule the same area as a private fief. And last year, the current president, Joseph Kabila, who inherited the job from his assassinated father more than a decade ago, awarded himself another five-year term in elections that were criticized by everyone from the European Union to the country's Roman Catholic bishops.

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