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The World from Berlin

Congo Conflict 'Could Escalate Even More'

Violence between rebels and government troops in eastern Congo has forced tens of thousands to flee. But what can Europe do to help? German commentators consider the question.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, where four million people died in civil wars between 1996 and 2003, is once again sinking into crisis as a military conflagration between President Joseph Kabila and Tutsi rebel chief Laurent Nkunda threatens to transform into a full-blown humanitarian castrophe.

In the past two months of fighting, the UN estimates that 250,000 people have been forced from their homes in the eastern part of the country where the conflict is centered.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner flew to the region over the weekend in an effort to quell the crisis. They met with leaders from the African Union in Dar es Salaam on Monday to discuss the humanitarian and political implications of the conflict.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, which, with 17,000 troops, qualifies as the largest such deployment the world, has failed to provide meaningful protection to Congolese civilians harmed by the fighting.

European Union leaders over the weekend were mulling the possibility of sending EU troops to help shore up the foundering UN peacekeeping effort. Whether this is a necessary step to prevent another humanitarian catastrophe is a question that has renewed long-raging debates in Europe over the proper approach for humanitarian intervention in African conflicts whose problems seem both urgent and intractable.

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"The conflict is so explosive that it could escalate even more -- perhaps into massacres reminiscent of 1994, when the small neighboring country of Rwanda plunged into murderous ethnic cleansing. That genocide, which claimed the lives of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, also threw Congo off balance."

"But the conflict between Rwandan Hutus and Congolese Tutsis is not the only source of the conflict. The fear that these adversaries may exterminate one another may be great, but at least as important is the battle over the natural resources that make Congo rich. Every militia that is fighting in Congo finances itself through the sale of raw materials such as, for instance, Coltan, which is used by the global cell phone industry. For this reason the war in Congo cannot be described as a purely African conflict. In it we also see flashes of the deadly trap of globalization. Global markets cry out for all this material from Congo, whether it's drenched in blood or not. There are no real controls. And interest among industrial nations in establishing such controls is slight."

"Nkunda's attack has also crippled the United Nations. They can no longer fulfil their mandate. They have left themselves in the grip of an undisciplined army, which itself spreads fear and terror. The situation has reached a point where even the ministers from Great Britain and France, now hastily deployed to Congo, will not find any quick political solution to the crisis. The confrontation in the eastern part of the country has been smouldering for too long -- and too many interests are profiting from the war."

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"What lesson is to be learned from the fact that the UN peacekeeping troops in Congo are manifestly no longer in a position to prevent displacement, mass expulsions, and worse? That they should strengthen their personnel? That they should stop viewing their peacekeeping mission as a serious military operation? That a (supplementry) European force should be deployed? As is so often the case with UN peacekeeping missions in Africa, the UN troops have not brought honor to themselves. Neither does it help at all to announce in a pose of dismay that the international community cannot allow a "second Rwanda," as long as this is understood as an appeal to other countries to send troops. Again, the Europeans will not fight the wars of Africans; notwithstanding the immense suffering there, (European troops) would be out of place. It falls first and foremost to the Africans to restore a minimum of order, to settle the militias and to discipline marauding government soldiers. The planned peace summit is a start."

-- Christopher Glazek, 3 p.m. CET