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Rebels run riot over chunk of Africa
 How could a rebel band that started with just a few hundred men take over a huge chunk of Africa's biggest country, set presidents against each other and leave the UN reeling? Easily when it is the Democratic Republic of Congo, say analysts and diplomats, who blame a corrupt and disappearing army, alleged meddling by neighbouring Rwanda and a UN force with its wrists tied.In just one week, M23 rebels have taken over most of DR Congo's North Kivu province, an area twice the size of Belgium and rich in diamonds, precious metals and minerals. The DR Congo army collapsed in the face of the rebel force, which had grown to an estimated 3000 by the time it moved on Goma. The army "simply melted away", said UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous. The UN mission in DR Congo is its biggest peacekeeping force with more than 17,000 troops, costing $1.4 billion a year, but its job is to protect civilians, not fight rebels. UN officials say there is no "direct evidence" Rwanda bolstered the rebels for this advance. But their suspicions were raised by the number of English-speaking officers at checkpoints on roads leading to strongholds of the French-speaking bandits, as well as how they were suddenly able to rout the DR Congo army. UN leaders are encouraging Mr Kabila and Rwanda's President Paul Kagame to start political talks. "The DRC is the biggest country in Africa and it may just be that it is too big and complex a state to exist as a single, unified country," Peter Chalk, a senior political scientist at the Rand security research organisation, said. Posted by: Pappy 2012-11-24 |
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