MEDIA REACTION DROC; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 002317

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAO KMDR ZI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION DROC; HARARE



1. Under headline "Elusive peace in the DRC" the
editorial in the independent, pro-government daily
"The Daily Mirror" encouraged the African Union (AU)
to take the lead in enforcing the peace deal in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Excerpts:


2. "As Zimbabwean and other SADC allied forces
withdraw from the DRC, fighting has not stopped in
that vast and rich country. . . All this continued
suffering is a serious indictment of the UN forces
that are supposed to bring peace to the DRC. The
reason there is so much violence in the Kivu region is
that when the Rwandan forces withdrew from the DRC
following an agreement with the Kinshasa government, a
power vacuum was created which should have been
balanced by UN forces. Unfortunately, the paltry
number of UN forces that is in the DRC could not be
stretched enough to cover that vast country. So, the
withdrawal of both the SADC Allied forces and of the
Ugandan and Rwandese forces has not brought the peace
that we were all expecting.

". . .But. . .the real challenge is for. . .the
AU. . .to take charge of collective security
issues in all parts of Africa, and the DRC would
be a starting point. It is one thing to look to
the UN to enforce the peace deal in the DRC, but
it would be more meaningful if the AU were to
take control of the situation. It is however
disheartening to note that to date, there is no
AU plan or statement on peace in the DRC. . ."

SULLIVAN