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Bye Bye to You Congo

The Monitor (Kampala)
EDITORIAL
April 23, 2003
Posted to the web April 23, 2003
Kampala
President Yoweri Museveni has finally ordered the UPDF to pull out of the DR
Congo as agreed during a recent heads of state meeting he attended in South
Africa. While Rwanda, the other party in the Congo conflict, was by yesterday
still doubting Uganda's pullout, the UPDF has announced that the withdrawal
starts today (23 April).
The Ugandan soldiers are to be replaced by 2,000 Uruguayan troops under a UN
mandate. They will later be backed by a still unknown number of peacekeepers
from the South African Defence Forces.
Because the South Africans and Uruguayans are not yet physically in place, some
Ugandan officials are fearful that the UPDF's pull out might leave a risky
security vacuum in eastern Congo.
We do not buy into that reasoning. Even from a simplistic point of view, we
know that no military vacuum lasts forever. Somehow the Congolese will sort
themselves out.
In fact, by completely pulling out, Uganda will be returning to the Congolese
their right to self-determination. After all, the Uganda army's presence did
not in itself guarantee peace in eastern Congo. This was painfully demonstrated
by the latest massacres there right under the UPDF's nose.
Uganda also spends a lot of money to control eastern Congo. At the height of
the Congo conflict, Uganda's overall military expenditure was estimated at
close to one million dollars a day. That is a lot of money for our poor
economy.
Some of that money can now be saved for development. Or, if eastern Congo
remains such a serious security threat to Uganda, the government could build an
Israeli-like security fence along our borders with the DRC. A security fence is
cost effective and more sustainable than occupying huge parts of eastern Congo.
A security fence does not sound that nice, but at least it would save our
country the indignity of being called the region's warmonger. It would also
help President Museveni to free himself from the rather unfair accusations that
he is using the national army to loot the DR Congo's riches.

   

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