Last Sunday (12.08.12), the journey of three Ugandan helicopters bound for Somalia was cut short when they crashed high up in Mount Kenya. Seven crew members have been confirmed dead (May their souls rest in peace). Even so, the quick action by Kenyans to find the victims immediately after the crash must be lauded.
Coming immediately after the Kampala summit that brought together leaders of the Great Lakes Region, it is an action whose significance needs to be noted. Small as it may be, it symbolises the concern of an African over the plight of a fellow African. And not only concern but also efforts to take charge of a sister country’s problem. Indeed, a symbol of Africans helping one another. Africans claiming ownership of their problems. For a change, not waiting for Western countries to come to their rescue.
Which is why I smell a rat! Not a Kenyan or, for that matter, an African rat. I sense the long, menacingly dark hand of the Western World and their organisations. It sounds like a wild card, all right. Even a person familiar with matters aeroplane assures me it is hard to interfere with helicopters. But methinks you can never know what the Western powers are capable of. Maybe their satellites can meddle with those choppers’ radar readings. Or they can plain send those choppers hurtling on their noses, with their pilots powerless to intervene.
Look at it this way. There is no doubt that the forces in Somalia are doing a sterling job. After the bloody nose that USA suffered there, no Western country is ready to send boots to that nightmare of a lawless jungle. Sure, they need that Qaida cousin, Al-Shabaab, out more than we in Africa do. So they readily give assistance to anybody willing to risk their skin. But Africans, as Africans, must be kept in check. When they outdo the West’s proxy, the UN, and want to soar to greater heights, their wings must be clipped.
Ugandan, Burundian and Kenyan – and until recently Ethiopian – forces have generally cleared Somalia of Al-Shabaab. The four Ugandan choppers, three of which crashed, were only going to help in mop-up work. The outcrop that’s Kismayo may still be home to some Shabaab elements but it is sure to fall to the combined force. Those elements, therefore, are concerned more about their survival than hurting Western countries. And that lull affords the West time to teach a reminder lesson to Africa.
Servant Africa cannot feed except from Master West’s palm.
It’s a lesson that some African countries were beginning to forget. And that Kampala conference of early this month is a glaring example. Leaders came together to examine the problem in their sister country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Together they decided that there must be “a complete halt to fighting” in eastern DRC. And went ahead to take steps towards achieving that “complete halt”.
A sub-committee made up of Ministers for Defence of the region was mandated to propose “urgent actionable steps” to end the fighting. It was also mandated to “provide details on the operationalisation” of a neutral international force that would effect that effort. By early September, these leaders will meet again to examine the proposals and decide on options.
Also, they set up a Trust Fund “to support victims of the humanitarian crisis” in eastern DRC. And Uganda immediately put down its contribution of 1 million dollars.
Now, that’s the damned vexing point! African countries deciding to resolve their crises on their own? Pooling their little monies together to help their victims? As if they don’t know who pulls the strings around here, money-wise? So, why not send a few of their choppers nose-diving to damnation and see if they won’t come knocking, bowl in hand? No, Africans must know that only “mature democracies” can solve Africans’ problems.
Which, unfortunately for Africa, means that that Kampala initiative stands in peril. I am sure conspirators are bidding for time, waiting to see which way things go. When the neutral international force looks like taking off, media warriors, humanitarian do-gooders, “rights-defenders” and activists of all description will rise to scuttle the initiative. This initiative will be sabotaged, no doubt about it.
Even then, however, it will have taught us one thing: African leaders know that you can only solve a problem when you understand it.
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) will succeed in sending Al-Shabaab to the seas because it is working with the people of Somalia. By immersing itself among the Somalis, AMISOM was able to understand the problem of Somalia as the Somalis understood it. Only then was it able to secure the goodwill of the Somalis and to fight alongside their sons and daughters.
So is it with the Kampala initiative. Our leaders did not rush to give a blanket solution, à la UN. By involving Rwanda in the Kampala initiative, which DRC is blaming for all its woes, regional leaders will help DRC identify the true source of these woes. By involving DRC, regional leaders will help it manage its peace, if it gets it.
However, our leaders must remember to understand this array of rebel outfits in DRC. FDLR are consumed by their genocide ideology and are the Al-Shabaab of DRC. They must therefore be the first to be repatriated to Rwanda for due punishment. Otherwise, the Congolese rebel groups that are not driven by murder, rape and pillage are the wheat that must be separated from the chaff. If their grievances are legitimate, they must be addressed. The important thing is that what is decided upon takes into account the opinion of ordinary citizens in the affected areas.
Our leaders can stabilize DRC. If the West gave them a chance, they can truly birth the “consolidation of peace, security and stability” for the tortured people of DRC. Can Western countries, if they don’t want to help, at least cough up the US$15bn they loot from Africa, as former President Thabo Mbeki has found out, to bolster the efforts of our African leaders?
