CONGO LETTER:BATTERED AND weary after years of rebel fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), residents of the border town of Goma suffered a further calamity in early 2002 when a wall of molten lava streamed down their main street, clearing all in its path.
“I was in the market at the time and ran to Rwanda,” recalls Dorethée Segahungu (41), a member of the local Kumu tribe. Shortly afterwards, with the family home burnt, her younger sister Niko was resettled to Ireland, assisted by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), while Dorethée herself remained behind to pick up the pieces.
Fast forward almost a decade and the UNHCR has grown increasingly critical of Ireland’s acceptance rate of refugee applications, the lowest in the European Union. At the same time, tensions are rising in Congo ahead of presidential and legislative elections this November, while Mount Nyiragongo on the outskirts of Goma remains highly active, as do the rebel groups that continue to harass inhabitants in the surrounding areas.
Top of the list are the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a highly organised group of ethnic Hutus whose leadership includes perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. “In North Kivu province we have roughly 2,500 armed groups, of which the dominant group is the FDLR,” says Brig Gen Chandi Prasad Mohanty, the top UN military official in the area. “They are practically swarming everywhere and are responsible for the greatest number of human rights violations.”
Other threats include community-based militia known as the Mai-Mai, infamous for their cattle hustling and banditry, as well as Bosco Ntaganda, a former Tutsi rebel who now serves as a general in the Congolese armed forces, despite being wanted by the International Criminal Court for his use of child soldiers.
All are widely reported to be profiting from the region’s artisanal mining sector, prompting US legislation last year that specifically targets “conflict minerals” from eastern DRC and neighbouring countries.
Despite teething problems, supporters say the rules requiring US-listed manufacturers to ensure minerals such as tin and tantalum do not come from militarised mines are having a positive effect.
Critics, however, say the new obligations have merely resulted in a de facto ban on mineral exports from eastern DRC, blowing a further hole in the region’s already troubled economy. For its part, the European Union appears to be watching and waiting before deciding on whether to follow Washington’s lead.
Discussing these subjects, Dorethée is keenly aware of the double-edged sword that her region’s mineral richness presents.
There are other major issues. For instance, despite a sizable national dairy herd, Congo’s dismal network of potholed roads greatly restricts the transport of fresh milk, opening up the market to foreign firms such as Kerrygold, which secured its fifth largest export sales in the country over the past year.
It is exactly because of Congo’s poor infrastructure, however, that Dorethée says she will vote for incumbent president Joseph Kabila in the upcoming elections, giving him more time to complete the much-touted “Cinq Chantiers” infrastructure programme, which includes billions of dollars for new roads and hospitals.
Others are angry at the slow progress of the works and say Kabila has little to show after a decade in power. Plucked out of obscurity following the assassination of his father and former president Laurent Kabila in 2001, Joseph was widely backed by the international community in closely fought elections in 2006.
But now, many on the streets of Kinshasa are demanding change. There were violent clashes between government and opposition supporters in the capital city earlier this month. An opposition television station was among a number of buildings to be burnt to the ground on September 5th.
The international community is nervously attempting to calm the situation as the November polls draw closer – with the spectre of a post-election stand-off similar to that in the Ivory Coast looming large in the background.
“History doesn’t repeat itself, there are many potential outcomes,” insists EU ambassador to the DRC, Richard Zink, unwilling to speculate on the likelihood of prolonged violence.
The European Commission is providing €45 million to help ensure the elections pass off smoothly, with an observer mission of MEPs also scheduled to arrive in the country this month.
While some Congolese see the elections as a rare opportunity to elect their own leader, many others remain pessimistic about the long-term chances for democracy. This is perhaps understandable given the country’s recent history: 32 years of dictatorship by Mobutu Sese Seko, followed by a bloody regional conflict in the east which is estimated to have claimed the lives of more than 5.4 million people, mostly through disease and starvation.
Against this backdrop, Dorethée concedes that one day she wants to join her sister in Galway. “If I had enough money to travel I would go now,” she says. “I hear there’s more security over there, more chance to study and to live.”