The African tragedy

All the nations that were in a position to do something about the carnage in Zaire looked the other way until the pictures made response unavoidable. Now an international brigade is being organized for the limited but essential goals of delivering relief and saving lives. Canada is to run it, the United States is to take part, and the essential African component will be there. Uncounted numbers of refugees already are dying; a million-plus are endangered. The sooner the force gets moving the better.

The design of the force is being dictated as much by the political requirements of its sponsors as by the humanitarian requirements of its intended beneficiaries. The United States wanted to avoid the appearance as well as the reality of a mission likely to incur casualties as in Somalia. France wanted to propitiate genocidal and corrupt African clients. Others wanted to hem France in. Fortunately, Canada -- willing, experienced and disinterested -- was ready to get out front.

Harsh policy questions remain. If the mission rules out the use of force, how can relief be brought to refugees caught between or intimidated by combatants? How will the refugee camps be broken up and their wretched occupants repatriated safely? How will innocent Hutu refugees in eastern Zaire be separated from well-armed Hutus who took part in genocide in Rwanda? If regional keystone Zaire is to crumble, is it worth taking in France, long a patron of Zaire, to police the debris?

Beyond lie further perplexities. This disaster is the predictable and predicted second act of a central African tragedy whose first act, in the recent period, opened with the Hutu genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda two years ago -- except this time the Tutsis have the edge.

Some are prepared to say that central Africa is not an American priority and therefore let the fire burn. But others see, as they should, a humanitarian interest, if not a political and strategic one, and indicate a readiness to go to root causes- including the ignoring of ethnic lines by colonial powers when they drew the modern boundaries. Some would now redraw these boundaries to reflect ethnic facts. Others would mix separate ethnic groups into a larger federation. Still others would seek out foreigners as receivers or trustees. These are matters awkward to raise at a moment of death and uncertainty. They are matters essential to raise if central Africa's agonies are to end.

-- The Washington Post