DR Congo: From Che Guevara, dearth of sovereignty fuelling chaos

1965: Algerian born revolutionary Che Guevara of Cuba posing with Laurent Kabila's rebel in Zaire.

An absence of sovereignty is the hallmark of a failed state. The just hotly contested elections in the DR Congo, the third since independence on 30^th June 1960 independence, attests to the country as a failed state since the UN mission, Monusco played a major logistical role in the elections.

The previous 2006 election was also brokered and run by UN to be the first free polls in 40 years.

DR Congo is ranked the last at 187 by UN Human Development Report as the most unequal country with a wide gap between the rich and the poor. The influential Foreign Policy magazine ranked the DRC fourth behind Sudan, Chad and Somalia in its 2011 failed state index

“Whatever accountability there is in DRC is directed towards international backers, not Congolese people” Theodore Trefon a Congolese analyst writes in BBC Online.

This lack of accountability to her citizens has seen the political elites turning the country to battle ground for direct and proxy wars by international interests both in the continent and globally at detriment of populace.

The most popular figure being the Argentinean born Cuba revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara who led 120 Cuban fighters in DR Congo after consulting with Algerian Ben Bella, China’s Zhou En-Lai and Egypt’s Abdel Nasser for advice.

Che secretly entered the country on 24^th April 1965 from Tanganyika with blessing from Julius Nyerere. The mission became a failure causing the mission to be cancelled by the end of the year. While in Cuban Tanganyika embassy Guevara wrote The African Dreams: The Diaries of the Revolutionary War dismissing the 26 years Laurent-Kabila as a joke.

“(The army) it was a parasite army; it didn’t work, did not train, did not fight, and demanded provisions and labour from the population, sometimes with extreme harshness” he wrote.

On Kabila, Guevara had hash words: “He let the days pass without concerning himself with anything other than political squabbles, and all signs are that he is too addicted to drink and women”

It’s this status that saw the country enjoying only few days of peace after 30^th June 1960 independence with Belgium, former colonizer, propping Moise Tshombe in the succession of Katanga on 11^th July.

US followed suit with supporting Mobutu Sese Seko’s 32 years rule while as a CIA spy pay roll and the president. This caused the assassination of Patrice Lumumba on 17^th January 2011 for seeking USSR and Czech personnel to help stop rebellion started by Belgium and supported by America. Angola which leaned towards the East in cold war had CIA spying on her from Congo which caused a brief war 1977 & 78.

During the fall of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and the rise to power of Laurent Kabila on 17^th May 1997 a score of countries in the region were involved which brought the infamous ‘Great Lakes” which involved Zimbabwe, Angola, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi amongst others in proxy battle to loot minerals in the country.

It’s this dearth of sovereignty that sees candidates in the last election to travel to Europe and US extensively to gain support.

Ever since UN was called in the country since 1960s to bring peace it has acted a glue offering administrative work. The last general elections of 2006 which was the fairest in 40 years and the just concluded have succeeded  because of logistical support offered by the UN.

“DR Congo is a country under international trusteeship. Important decisions are taken by World Bank technocrats, UN Officials and increasingly by international NGOs. When the electoral campaigns stared last month, candidates traveled to Europe and US to garner support.” Theodore Trefon a Congolese analyst writes for BBC showing the lack of sovereignty which makes DR Congo to be a failed state.