No peace for Congo

No peace for Congo: a rebellion is now underway against ex- rebel Kabila. The Tutsi-Banyamulenge -- the same minority that initiated Kabila's successful coup against the dictatorial Mobutu two years ago -- have threatened his tenuous hold on the vast nation. The rebellion does not spell the end of Kabila, but it does signify the beginning of conflict over new power structures within the region of vast lakes between the Congo and its eastern neighbors.

Lacking his own army, Kabila used the Banyamulenge (or Congolese Tutsis) for his military victory. But since then the Tutsi -- traditionally maligned in the Congo -- have become a nuisance to him. Feeling strong enough to get rid of them for good, Kabila ordered them to leave one week ago. Yet he failed to keep his word toward both the Tutsi minority in the Congo and their Tutsi "godfathers" in Rwanda: to secure their survival as an ethnic minority.

Congo-based Hutu militias are still waging war against the Tutsi regime in Rwanda, and coalitions of Bantu tribes are forming against them in eastern Congo. With all the Rwandan declarations of non-involvement one thing remains certain: As long as the Tutsi regard their Lebensraum (living space) as threatened, there will be no peace. Kigali will not sit by idly should the Tutsi in eastern Congo be threatened. Then the signals will point rapidly toward all-out war, a war that will be waged over the separation of the Kivu from the Congo.

-- Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Munich