William Garvelink, Former DRC Ambassador Has an Interesting, Short-sighted Perspective

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CSIS, DRC, Joseph Kabila, Laurent Kabila, Resilience, US Policy in the Congo, William Garvelink

Listening to a live webcast of a CSIS event on ‘Resilience: Learning from Practice Across the Development Spectrum‘ I was struck by the comments of Ambassador William Garvelink, who represented US interests in the DRC from 2007 – 2010 (I also still have no idea what Resilience is, but that’s another matter).

Garvelink noted that 2013 was a good year for the Congo and that generally, the country is moving in the right direction.  This instantly raised flags for me as the current president of the DRC is in office as a result of a successful armed rebellion against the State and presided over a deeply flawed election in 2011 (in which he changed the constitution to make his election easier – the same thing that Abdoulaye Wade tried unsuccessfully to do the following year and which garnered much criticism).

Although his time was limited, Garvelink also managed to obfuscate history, noting that as Rwanda and Uganda attempted to overthrow the Congolese government, the Kabila administration is justifiably more concerned with its survival than everyday governance (bizarrely, he even gave kudos to Angola and Zimbabwe for saving the government).

In my view, the very fact that the Kabila administration came to power through an armed insurrection (originally aided by Uganda and Rwanda before they changed sides) provides a challenge to its legitimacy and weakens its credibility.  Coming to power through force will mean that continued violence remains a strong possibility and that one’s interests in governing are likely perverted.

It’s generally agreed that US support for the egomaniacal Mobutu for several decades was detrimental to the development of the DR Congo.  I think there’s a very good chance that history will tell the same story with the US support for the Kabila’s.  Intriguingly, according to Wikipedia, Ambassador Garvelink pursued doctoral studies in history.

Historians generally have perspective.  Ambassador Garvelink and perhaps US policy to the Congo on the whole, seems to lack this trait.

 

 

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A GWU Primer on African Development with NDI and Vital Voices Staffers

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Africa Rising, AU, Christiane Yelibi, DRC, George Washington University, Gina Chirillo, National Democratic Institute, OAU, technology in Africa, Vital Voices, Yvonne Captain-Hidalgo

From L to R: Captain – Hidalgo, Chirillo, Yelibi

George Washington University’s Honor Society for International Studies held an event last night on ‘Trade, Gender, and Politics: An Introduction to African Development.’  Panelists included GW’s Professor Yvonne Captain – Hidalgo, Christian Yelibi, a Vital Voices staffer of Ivorian origin, and Gina Chirillo, who supports programs in Mali and Burkina Faso at the National Democratic Institute.

Silly Sights for South Sudan from a Beltway Bandit

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African Arguments, African Independence, Belgian Congo, cold war in Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, Hank Cohen, Herman Cohen, namibia, South Sudan, UN Congo, UN Trusteeship, White Man's Burden

A recent appeal on the online blogging forum African Arguments (a site I greatly enjoy) from the former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Hank Cohen, for UN trusteeship of South Sudan has really set me off.  The piece epitomizes the narrative of Africa as a dangerous locale for exciting adventures in which the white man can nobly shoulder the weight of his burden, rather than illustrating the more hopeful economic narratives of Africa that are becoming more predominant in many corners (although those could also have the potential to set me off).

Security & Development – the DRC’s Prime Minister at the Wilson Center

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Cynthia Akuetteh, Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, Joseph Kabila, M23, Matata Ponya Mapon, Rwanda, Steve McDonald

Today I attended a talk by the Prime Minister of the Congo, Augustin Matata Ponyo Mapon, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Cynthia Akuetteh (who arrived late with traffic as her excuse), at the Wilson Center.  While the comments by both were representative of typical sterile government speak (which in my DC experience has been best epitomized by Under Secretary Hormats), each were brief, allowing for a rather lengthy Q&A.  Several ambassadors were in the audience – Zambia, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, and most interestingly the ambassador of Rwanda.  The last three asked questions, so that presented a particularly striking opportunity.

The translation headsets suffered technical difficulties throughout (the PM spoke in French and most of the questions were in French as well), although my Peace Corps and high school French was generally good enough to keep me from getting lost (surprisingly).  The Director of the Wilson Center’s Africa Program, Steve McDonald (whose bio indicated that his undergrad specialization was French) struggled to translate on the fly and called into service the PM’s personal translator.

Aside from a celebration of the DRC’s ascendant economic prowess, most of the conversation focused on the precarious security situation in the east of the Congo.  Both the DAS and PM were relatively critical of Rwanda and the Ambassador (speaking in English) used his question time to rebut this assertion.  While he made a somewhat convincing argument that the détente from 2009 to 2012 (following the arrest of Laurent Nkunda) was the result of Rwandan efforts to support peace, there was no explanation as to why that peace deteriorated.  He may have eventually gone in that direction, but the numerous members of the Congolese diaspora in the audience (who had previously been rather critical of the PM) turned against him and shouted him down, despite McDonald’s feeble attempts to assert his own preeminence as moderator.

Ultimately, the talk revealed little of substance, however it certainly illuminated the high and intense passion surrounding DRC – Rwanda relations and the poor relations of the Congolese diaspora with the Kabila administration.  One of the more interesting nuggets (that came out in the bio sheet, not the talk) was that PM Mapon appears to have been educated exclusively in the DRC (at the University of Kinshasha).