Congolese must lead from the front to attain peace

Editor,I doubt putting an African at the helm of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) will be a solution to internal Congolese problrms.This is like applying the wrong medicine to a misdiagnosed disease.In any case, having Africans in the three most critical UN posts dealing with Rwanda in 1993-94 (Boutros Boutros-Ghali as Secretary General, Kofi Annan as head of Peacekeeping, and Booh Booh as the Secretary General’s Special Representative for Rwanda and therefore the head of all UN peacekeeping efforts in the country to whom MINUAR (United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda) reported) did not make an iota of a difference. Why would putting an African in charge of MONUSCO in the DRC make any difference?The entire peacekeeping model which has been applied to the DR Congo from the immediate post-Independence period (though independence only in name as the West arrogated to itself the right to run the DRC from behind the curtain) has completely failed, with dire consequences for that countrys benighted people and those of the sub region.What is needed is not more tinkering with the model, but to let the Congolese sort themselves out with their neighbours support. Continued interference by the UN will only delay the only viable solution to resolving the DRCs perpetual failed-state status. And continued delay simply means that the disease will only be aggravated and thus the treatment will need to be even tougher and more debilitating than if the correct cure was applied without further delay.The problem to applying the correct cure to the DRCs sickness is, of course, the vested interests of the West. Until their interests in keeping the DRC in perpetual tutelage and thus unable to impose its writ on their exploitation of its natural resources is acknowledged fully and appropriately addressed, they will continue to pressure their governments to obstruct the only viable solution: one that is fully owned and led by the Congolese themselves with their neighbours support.Mwene Kalinda, KigaliReaction to the story, “Monusco to be headed by African”, (The New Times, March 11)

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Congolese must lead from the front to attain peace